Ole Miss Baseball Loses Series Against Tennessee

OXFORD, Miss. (Ole Miss Athletics) — Looking for its second Southeastern Conference series win of the season, the Ole Miss baseball team fell to Tennessee, 4-2, in the series finale Sunday, April 5, at Swayze Field.

Hits were hard to come by throughout the contest as the Rebels (16-16, 5-7 SEC) recorded four, while the Volunteers (14-14, 4-8 SEC) tallied just six on the afternoon. Freshman Will Golsan and senior Sikes Orvis each knocked in runs for Ole Miss.

Infielders Nick Senzel and Jared Pruett provided two hits apiece and accounted for three of Tennessee’s four runs in the contest. Starter Drake Owenby (2-3) picked up the victory, going eight innings and allowing two runs on four hits.

Freshman right-hander Will Stokes (0-3) went a career-long 5.2 innings, giving up four runs — two earned — on four hits with two walks and four strikeouts, but he was saddled with the loss for the Rebels. Senior Scott Weathersby tossed two scoreless innings of relief, and sophomore Wyatt Short continued his brilliance on the mound by retiring all four batters he faced.

After giving up three runs through the first two innings, Stokes retired 12 of the final 14 batters he faced, including 10 in a row at one point, before leaving the game with two outs in the sixth.

“It was nice to get an extended outing from him,” head coach Mike Bianco said. “He’s terrific. We need to help him a little bit. We need to give him some run support and catch some balls for him.”

Tennessee scored a run in the first and two in the second to take a 3-0 lead. A nice defensive play by sophomore third baseman Colby Bortles, who stepped on third and threw across the diamond to complete the 5-3 double play, limited the second-inning damage to two runs.

Ole Miss got a run back in the third, coming through again with two outs in the inning. Second baseman Golsan struck a ground ball to the left side that got through for an infield single, scoring freshman left fielder Kyle Watson from second on the play.

Tennessee answered back with an RBI single to shallow right in front of a diving effort by junior right fielder Cameron Dishon, extending its lead to 4-1 in the sixth.

Ole Miss threatened in the seventh, loading the bases with nobody out in the inning. Orvis made it a 4-2 game with an RBI groundout to first for his team-leading 27th RBI of the season, but they were unable to score any more runs in the inning.

The Rebels also brought the would-be, game-tying run to the plate in the eighth, but they were unable to get any closer in the game.

Ole Miss will travel south to host its next opponent on Tuesday, April 7. The Rebels will look to avenge an earlier loss this season to Southern Miss as the two in-state rivals will play their annual game at Trustmark Park in Pearl, Miss. After traveling to Hattiesburg, March 4, Ole Miss will serve as the home team for the upcoming matchup. First pitch is slated for 6:00 p.m. CT.