Students in right field partake in the “beer shower” tradition after a home run was hit in the first inning of the Missouri game Friday. Photo: Thomas Graning, The Daily Mississippian.
FRIDAY: No. 14 Ole Miss 4, Missouri 3
Junior Chris Ellis went 7.1 innings and gave up just one run, and senior Austin Anderson and junior Sikes Orvis both belted home runs en route to a 4-3 win over Southeastern Conference foe Missouri Friday night. With the win, the Rebels improved to 19-4 overall and also got back to the .500 mark in conference play at 2-2.
“I thought it was his best outing in maybe three or four weeks,” Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco said of Ellis. “He had good command with all three pitches and got ahead with a lot of hitters. I think he put them on the defensive in a lot of at-bats.”
The Rebels jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the first inning behind the homers from Anderson and Orvis. Senior Will Allen would increase the lead to 4-0 on an RBI single in the third.
Missouri wouldn’t go away without a fight. A passed ball by Allen allowed a runner to score in the fifth, and an RBI double and RBI single in the eighth cut the Ole Miss lead to 4-3. However, the Rebels got a solid performance from junior Josh Laxer out of the bullpen to seal the game.
“Terrific, and we are really proud of him,” Bianco said of Laxer’s outing, which went 1.2 innings and yielded just one hit. “He’s done that basically the whole year.”
SATURDAY: Ole Miss 7, Missouri 1
Junior Sikes Orvis continued to stay hot at the plate as he hit two home runs in Ole Miss’ 7-1 win over Missouri Saturday afternoon. The Rebels clinched the series with the win, and it was also their 20th of the season.
“We swung it well,” head coach Mike Bianco said. “I think one of the things is we’ve got some older, physical guys who have had success, and certainly when you look at college sports in general, those older guys seem to take it to another level.”
Although Orvis was able to get two over the fence, he wasn’t the only one causing beer showers at Swayze. Senior Will Allen got the scoring started for Ole Miss when he belted a three-run home run in the first inning. It was the second straight game in which Ole Miss jumped out to an early lead.
Missouri would scratch a run across in the top of the second on a sacrifice fly, but the Tiger bats just couldn’t come to life, as they recorded just four hits on the day.
The Rebels pushed the lead to 6-1 in the third on a sacrifice fly from senior Austin Anderson and the first home run from Orvis, which was a two-run shot. Orvis would then add his solo home run in the seventh to cap the scoring at 7-1.
Ole Miss also got a solid outing from sophomore starting pitcher Christian Trent, who improved to 3-0 on the year with the win. Trent went six innings, gave up just four hits and one run while striking out five.
“I think it’s something he has done all year for us,” Bianco said of Trent’s outing. “He walks out there, and the stuff is even better than I think it looks. Just a great mix of a 90-mile-per-hour fastball on both sides of the plate. Today I thought his slider was the best it’s been in a few weeks, and of course the changeup. When you mix three pitches like that, he can roll a bit.”
SUNDAY: Ole Miss 8, Missouri 3
Ole Miss secured its first Southeastern Conference sweep of the season Sunday afternoon with an 8-3 win over Missouri. The Rebels improved to 21-4 with the win and now sit at 4-2 in conference play.
It took a while for the bats to get hot like they had been all weekend, but Ole Miss was able to rally once again to secure the win. Missouri held a 3-2 lead until the eighth inning when the Rebel bats exploded and they scored six runs in the bottom of the eighth.
“We talked about it last week after that tough Saturday, especially that first game, that you felt you left one out on the table and to not get two out of three the first weekend, we would have to sweep somewhere down the road,” head coach Mike Bianco said. “We were hoping we would sweep some weekend, but you’d have to sweep a series you weren’t supposed to. Maybe this was the game, with four errors and a game that, maybe when you look at it from a distance, you say, ‘They’re not supposed to win that game,’ but we hung in there.”
Junior Sam Smith turned in another good outing, going six innings for the Rebels and giving up three runs on five hits, but he faced a difficult challenge in going against Missouri’s typical Friday night starter, Brett Graves, who kept the Rebel offense in check before exiting the game.
“Unfortunately, we don’t score enough runs early that he doesn’t get something on the stat page,” Bianco said of Smith. “What Sam does and why he has so much success in being a veteran is he keeps it in control. He doesn’t let the inning blow up on him; he handles it. There were some innings there that they could’ve scored multiple runs, and he just didn’t let that happen by bearing down and making pitches. Proud of his outing.”
The Rebels hit the road this week to take on Southern Miss Tuesday in Pearl before traveling to Tuscaloosa to face Alabama in a three-game weekend series.
— Matt Sigler
mcsigler@go.olemiss.edu
