Ole Miss Baseball Wins Series With No. 1 Florida

OXFORD, Miss. (Ole Miss Athletics) – The Ole Miss baseball team claimed the weekend series over No. 1 Florida with a split of its doubleheader Saturday at Swayze Field. The Rebels (13-10, 3-3 SEC) clinched the series with a 5-2 win in game one, before suffering an 8-4 loss to the top-ranked Gators (20-5, 3-3 SEC) in game two.

With the series win, Ole Miss has won 12 of its last 18 series against top-10 teams, dating back to 2003, including a 4-0 record against No. 1 ranked teams. The stretch also included series wins over No. 1 Georgia in 2009, No. 1 South Carolina in 2011 and No. 1 Florida in 2012.

“We’re proud that we won two out of three,” head coach Mike Bianco. “I’m proud of the way we played overall for the weekend against a very, very good Florida team. We’re getting better. We have shown that the last couple of weeks.”

The attendance for Saturday’s doubleheader was 9,761 marking the 14th-largest crowd in Swayze Field history.

The Rebels conclude their six-game homestand with a doubleheader against UAB on Tuesday, March 24. First pitch for game one is set for 11 a.m. CT with first pitch for game two set for approximately 2:00 p.m. CT. Both games will seven-inning contests and will be broadcast on SEC Network+ as well as the Ole Miss Radio Network.

GAME 1 RECAP: Ole Miss 5, No. 1 Florida 2

Senior first baseman Sikes Orvis hit his sixth home run of the season and that was all the run support the Ole Miss pitchers needed as the Rebels clinched the series over No. 1 Florida with a 5-2 win in the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader at Swayze Field.

Sophomore right-hander Brady Bramlett earned the win, improving to 3-1 on the season. He went six innings strong, giving up two runs — one earned — on six hits with two walks and six strikeouts. Through his first two career SEC starts, Bramlett has allowed just two earned runs in 13.0 innings of work.

“It was a great weekend for us,” Bramlett said. “We grew up a lot this week. All together, the first two games, we looked good as a team. We’re finding our character and we’re starting to roll with it.”

Orvis continued his recent tear, going 2-for-2 with a double, a home run and four RBI. Freshman third baseman Will Golsan had a career game at the plate, going 3-for-5 with an RBI, his fourth straight multi-hit game. Junior right fielder Cameron Dishon added a multi-hit game, going 2-for-4, to go along with his team-leading 10th stolen base of the season.

“He’s been aggressive and getting good swings off,” said Bianco of Golsan. “He’s one of the guys in the lineup, like Sikes, that continues to be aggressive and swing, and he’s had some success.”

Following a script similar to the Rebels’ win over the Gators in their series opener, Orvis gave Ole Miss a 3-0 lead on a three-run bomb to right-center in the bottom of the first. For Orvis, it was his third home run in his last five games.

After pitching around a leadoff single in the first, Bramlett pitched around trouble again in the second. With two on and one out, he got a strikeout swinging, and then got some help from freshman left fielder Kyle Watson, who made a nice catch at the wall for the final out of the inning.

The Rebels added another run in the second on a two-out RBI single by Golsan, a hard-hit ball past the Florida shortstop. Orvis added to his RBI total in the next frame with a stand-up double that scored sophomore center fielder J.B. Woodman all the way from first.

Florida loaded the bases with nobody out in the fourth, but Bramlett limited the damage to two runs, stranding runners at first and second with an inning-ending groundout to short. Florida also threatened in the seventh and eighth, but junior right-hander Jacob Waguespack and sophomore left-hander Wyatt Short kept the Gators off the board in both frames.

In the seventh, Florida brought the would-be, game-tying run to the plate in the seventh with runners at first and second and nobody out, before Waguespack retired the next three batters in order, the last two by strikeout. In the eighth, Florida loaded the bases with two outs, before Short came on in relief and induced a chopper back to the mound on his first pitch of the game for the final out of the inning.

Short worked a perfect ninth to earn his second save of the season. He faced the minimum, striking out two batters in his 1.1 innings of relief.

GAME 2 RECAP: No. 1 Florida 8, Ole Miss 3

With the series win in hand, Ole Miss was unable to complete a sweep of No. 1 Florida, falling in the series finale by a score of 8-4 in the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader at Swayze Field.

Making his first career start, freshman right-hander Will Stokes (0-1) suffered the loss, giving up five runs on seven hits with a walk and a strikeout in 2.2 innings.

Junior right-hander Drake Robison worked a career-long 3.0 innings of relief, limiting the Gators to two runs on two hits with two walks and a strikeout. Senior right-hander Sam Smith matched his career long for a relief outing, giving up a run and scattering three hits with a strikeout in 2.1 innings.

The Rebels finished with nine hits, led by freshman designated hitter Joe Wainhouse, making his second career start, who recorded his first career multi-hit game, going 2-for-4 in the game.

Ole Miss fell behind for the first time in the series, giving up a run in the first, three in the second and another in the third. The Rebels threatened in the third with two on and one out, but they were unable to push a run across.

Ole Miss broke through in the fifth with a leadoff double by sophomore shortstop Errol Robinson, followed by an RBI double by sophomore catcher Henri Lartigue. Florida answered back with two runs in the sixth and another in the seventh. Ole Miss added three runs in the ninth to close out the scoring, taking advantage of two Florida errors in the frame.