Woodman Leads Ole Miss Baseball Past Georgia

ATHENS, Ga. (Ole Miss Athletics) – No. 7 Ole Miss used three home runs, including two by junior J.B. Woodman, to power past Georgia 7-3 Saturday afternoon at Foley Field. Senior Holt Perdzock hit the first career home run as well, helping the Rebels (36-12, 14-9 SEC) clinch the weekend series.

Woodman, the reigning National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) National Hitter of the Week, provided his second multi-homer game in the last four contests. The junior lefty increased his season total to 10, hitting five over a five-game stretch. Perdzock’s homer was the Rebels’ second pinch-hit dinger of the season, and fellow senior Cameron Dishon went 2-for-3 with an RBI to spark the bottom of the lineup.

Starting pitcher David Parkinson (3-2) picked up the victory, allowing three runs on seven hits over 5.1 innings. Once again, the Ole Miss bullpen was superb and did not allow a run. Connor Green pitched 1.2 scoreless frames, while Brady Feigl contributed 0.1 of an inning. Earning his ninth save of the season and second in as many games, junior Wyatt Short finished the final 1.2 innings and collected his 22nd career save.

Georgia (22-25, 7-16 SEC) equaled Ole Miss with nine hits, but managed just three runs as the Bulldogs grounded into three double plays. Three errors plagued the home team as starter Connor Jones (5-5) allowed five runs but only one earned. Drew Moody pitched a career-high five innings of relief, surrendering two runs on two homers.

Ole Miss took advantage of a Georgia miscue to score the game’s first two runs. In the opening frame, the Bulldogs appeared to be out of the inning on a pop-up to first base. However, the ball was dropped by Georgia first baseman Patrick Sullivan, the first error of the freshman’s career. With the inning still alive, Woodman made UGA pay with two-run bomb off the scoreboard in right field. The pair of unearned runs, along with a 1-2-3 inning by Parkinson, gave the Rebels a 2-0 lead after the first.

The scoring continued for the Rebels in the second. Henri Lartigue walked and Will Golsan singled to begin the inning. The duo advanced 90 feet on a wild pitch before an infield single by Dishon brought Lartigue across the plate. Georgia would escape a bases-loaded jam, but not before the Rebels added another run to make it 3-0.

Parkinson retired the first seven hitters of the game before three hits led to a Georgia run. LJ Talley doubled down the left field line before Mitchell Webb’s infield single placed runners on the corners with one out. Skyler Weber went opposite field with two outs to put UGA on the board, but Parkinson got out of the inning with a strikeout looking. Through the first three innings of play, Ole Miss held a 3-1 advantage.

Ole Miss countered with two runs in the top of the fourth to increase the game’s margin. Two UGA errors helped load the bases with nobody out. Errol Robinson was robbed of a base hit on a diving stop by the Georgia first baseman, but the shortstop’s groundout plated a run. On the next at-bat, Ryan Olenek hit an RBI single to center field to bump the lead to four. The Bulldogs got the two runs back in the bottom half of the inning as they loaded the bases themselves. After an RBI base hit, Parkinson worked a groundball double play that scored a run but got two big outs. The sophomore followed with another strikeout to end the inning and keep the Rebels ahead by two.

To keep with the trend of the series, the Rebels answered another Georgia scoring inning. Leading off the inning, Woodman took UGA reliever Drew Moody to the deepest part of the ballpark, where the ball cleared the fence. With his second home run of the game, the Ole Miss center fielder put his team up 6-3. One inning later, Perdzock stepped to the dish as a pinch hitter. For the first time in his career, the senior left the yard with a solo blast to right field. The pair of home runs in back-to-back innings doubled the Ole Miss cushion to four, 7-3.

After allowing a one-out double in the sixth, Parkinson turned the game over to his bullpen. Green entered the contest and kept Georgia of the scoreboard in 1.2 innings of work. In the eight, Georgia threatened with two runners on base and only one out. Entering the game, Short ended the scoring chance by forcing a groundball to third. Colby Bortles stepped on the bag before making a perfect throw to first to complete the double play and end the inning without Georgia cutting into the lead. Short finished the Bulldogs off with a scoreless ninth, earning the save.

Having already clinched the SEC road series, the Rebels will look go for the sweep tomorrow afternoon on Mother’s Day. Freshman James McArthur will make his second SEC start for Ole miss. First pitch from Foley Field will be at 12 p.m. CT on SECN+.