Rebels Baseball Sweeps UALR

(Ole Miss Athletics)

OXFORD, Miss. (Ole Miss Athletics) – The Rebel offense continued to click on Sunday with 11 runs on 14 hits as No. 15 Ole Miss (14-2) defeated UALR (8-5) by a score of 11-1 to sweep the weekend series with the Trojans.

Four Rebels posted multiple-hit games on the afternoon, paced by Auston Bousfield’s 2-for-4 outing as the centerfielder scored a run and drove in two.

Sam Smith (3-0) picked up the win for the Rebels, working 6.0 innings and allowing one run on five hits with a walk and three strikeouts. He was one of four Rebels to take the mound on the afternoon as Ole Miss limited opportunities for UALR for the third straight day.

Cameron Allen (1-1) took the loss for the Trojans, allowing four runs – three of them earned – on eight hits with a walk and two strikeouts. Allen worked 4.2 innings in the start.

“I was disappointed (offensively), then in the fifth inning we scored,” said Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco. “One of the things we challenge the pitchers when we’re winning is to keep the momentum in our dugout and have a shutdown inning. You have to put up a zero after we score. In today’s game, where there is not as many runs scored, it’s even more important to keep the momentum in your dugout. We did that today.”

The Rebels got on the board in the fourth inning when the Rebels took advantage of a fielding error following a Sikes Orvis hit to get on the board. Allen reached on a walk before Orvis delivered a hit to right field. The ball dropped in front of the right fielder who then misplayed the field attempt, allowing the ball to get past him and roll toward the fence. Allen scored from first on the play to put the Rebels on top 1-0.

UALR answered in the top of the fifth, scoring when Mitchell Scheuler came home on a bases loaded groundout from Ben Crumpton. The run tied the game 1-1.

Ole Miss broke things open in the home half of the fifth, putting the first of three multiple-run innings together as three runs crossed the plate.

J.B. Woodman opened the inning with a single and took second on a sac bunt from Errol Robinson. A groundout moved him to third and then the two-out rally began. Auston Bousfield delivered an RBI single to right and stole second. Austin Anderson then doubled to bring home Bousfield before Allen capped the scoring with a single through the left side.

The Rebels led 4-1 at the end of the fifth.

The sixth inning saw two more runs score for the Rebels as Braxton Lee draw a bases-loaded walk and Bousfield came up with a sac fly to center. The two runs pushed the lead out to 6-1 in favor of Ole Miss before the Trojans would get out of the inning.

Four more runs came home in the seventh. A Brantley Bell double brought the first run home before a ground ball back to the mound from Woodman would push a second run across the plate. Bell then came home on a wild pitch before a sac fly to left from Robinson took the lead out to 10-1.

The Rebels got the final run of the game in the eighth when John Gatlin delivered a sac fly to the wall in left center that scored Bousfield. Bousfield opened the inning with a walk before a Dalton Dulin single and a fielder’s choice from Austin Knight took him to third.

Ole Miss will return to action with five games this week, traveling for the first time since the opening weekend of play. The Rebels will face Southeastern Louisiana in a two-game set on Tuesday and Wednesday before continuing to play on the road at No. 3 South Carolina to open Southeastern Conference play over the weekend.