Ole Miss Baseball Wins, Locks Up 6 Seed In SEC Tournament

OXFORD, Miss. (WCBI Sports / Ole Miss Athletics) – The Ole Miss baseball team wrapped up its 2015 regular season with 7-4 victory over No. 6 Texas A&M Saturday.

The Rebels will be the No. 6 seed in next week’s SEC Tournament in Hoover and will face No. 11 seed Alabama Tuesday at 9:30 a.m. CT.

The Rebels (30-25, 15-14 SEC) and Aggies (43-10, 18-10) were originally scheduled to play two seven-inning contests, but game two was cancelled due to inclement weather.

The victory gave Ole Miss its 30th win of the season, marking 18 consecutive seasons the program has reached the 30-win plateau. The win over the No. 6 Aggies was also the Rebels’ seventh win over a top-10 team this season. The victory was also the final regular season game at Swayze Field for seniors Scott Ashford, Austin Knight, Sikes Orvis, Sam Smith and Scott Weathersby.

“Not striking out, putting the ball in play — just moving the ball and making things happen,” noted head Coach Mike Bianco on his team’s victory Saturday afternoon.”

The Rebels certainly provided timely hitting throughout the game, 9-for 16 with runners on base, 5-for-9 with runners in scoring position and 6-for-12 with two outs. Ole Miss tallied a total of 12 hits in game one of the doubleheader with each of the nine Rebels in the lineup accounting for at least one hit. Sophomore Errol Robinson, freshman Kyle Watson and junior Cameron Dishon all recorded a multi-hit game, with two hits apiece. Robinson also knocked in pair of runs alongside freshman Will Golsan.

Trailing 2-0, Ole Miss loaded the bases and tallied three runs on five hits, all with two outs in the second inning to take a 3-2 advantage. From there, the Rebels continued to increase their lead over the Aggies with three more runs in the third. Starting pitcher Brady Bramlett (7-3) limited Texas A&M to four runs (three earned) on five hits, while striking out seven and not issuing any walks. Sophomore Wyatt Short (10) closed the game out for Ole Miss.

Ryan Hendrix (4-2) took the loss for the Aggies, throwing two innings and allowing six runs on nine hits. Corbin Martin tossed another three innings, surrendering two Rebel hits and one run. Blake Allemand was the only Aggie to recorded multiple hits as Texas A&M recorded just six in the seven-inning contest.

Texas A&M jumped early with a leadoff double by Allemand, who was then knocked in with a RBI single by fellow senior Mitchell Nau. With a one run lead in the second, Aggie first baseman Hunter Melton went yard for a solo home run shot to give the visitors a two-run cushion.

Down 2-0, the Rebels got the bats going in the second inning. Singles by Watson and Dishon started a two-out rally for Ole Miss. Robinson kept things going by beating out a groundball to the shortstop, loading the bases for the Rebels. Golsan then stepped up to the plate, driving in a run on an infield hit. Golsan’s RBI that sent Watson across the dish cut the Aggie lead to 2-1. A Colby Bortles chopper to third kept everyone safe on the base path as the Aggies were unable to make a play and Dishon crossed the plate. With the game tied at two runs apiece, Sikes Orvis’ patience at the plate paid off as his walk gave Ole Miss the lead, 3-2.

Ole Miss kept Texas A&M from threatening in the third with lights out defense. Two diving catches from Robinson and Dishon saved what could have been base hits for the Aggies, drawing a huge round of applause from the Swayze Field faithful.

Back-to-back hits started the bottom of the third inning for the Rebels. J.B. Woodman led off with a hard hit double down the right field line, followed by a RBI-single to left field by freshman Nic Perkins. Watson kept thing going with a single up the middle, putting Ole Miss runners on first and second. Dishon worked the pitch count for a walk to load the bases before Robinson knocked a two RBI single to left field, extending the Ole Miss lead to 6-2.

During the bottom of the fifth, the Rebels continued to swing the bats, driving in one more run on a sacrifice fly deep to the center field wall by Golsan.

Texas A&M cut the Ole Miss lead to 7-4 in the sixth inning after a two-run home run shot by Birk, forcing Bramlett out of the ballgame. After Jacob Waguespack faced two batters, Short entered the game to close out the sixth and seventh innings for the Rebels without allowing a single hit, bringing the final score to 7-4 in favor of Ole Miss.