THOMAS GRANING | The Daily Mississippian
Braxton Lee safely steals home past Arkansas State catcher Stuart Levy to score the first run of Wednesday’s game. Ole Miss won 4-3
THOMAS GRANING | The Daily Mississippian
Jeremy Massie releases a pitch during Wednesday’s 4-3 win over Arkansas State.
It was do or die for Ole Miss in the bottom of the seventh inning last night, and junior Braxton Lee did for the Rebels. Lee laid down a suicide squeeze bunt, which scored freshman Dalton Dulin and gave the Rebels the 4-3 win over Arkansas State. With the win Ole Miss improved to 18-4 on the year, while the Red Wolves dropped to 11-9.
“It was awesome,” Lee said of getting the opportunity to lay down the bunt. “I thought coach was going to give (the bunt) to me before they switched pitchers, but then he said, ‘Let’s see what they have right here.’ Then they brought in the new (pitcher), and he said, ‘all right your choice,’ and I said ‘I mean, Coach, you’re the coach, you can choose’, and he said he was a betting guy. Then I said, ‘OK let’s suicide squeeze.’ He gave me the chance, and I did what I was supposed to do.”
Ole Miss jumped out to an early 1-0 lead when Lee stole home in the first inning, but it didn’t hold long with the Red Wolves tying things up in the third on an RBI single from Lucas Feddersen. Arkansas State increased the lead to 3-1 with an RBI single from Kevin Fitzpatrick in the fourth and a run scored on a wild pitch in the fifth.
The Rebels chipped away in the sixth, however, with an RBI single from senior Will Allen. Ole Miss then tied the game at three in the seventh when Dulin slapped an RBI single to right field, the hit that eventually set up the game-winning bunt from Lee.
Junior Scott Weathersby stole the show on the mound in relief of freshman Cheyne Bickel, who relieved starting pitcher Jeremy Massie after 3.2 innings of work. Weathersby went 2.1 innings, gave up no hits, and struck out five of the seven batters he faced.
“Terrific,” Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco said of Weathersby’s performance. “Really proud of him. It came at the right time, where it looked like they wanted to play a lot more than we did tonight and that is disappointing. Really it was the shot in the arm we needed for Scott to come in there and take control of the game and get the momentum back in our dugout. It was a big time performance.”
Ole Miss will resume action this Friday when they open a three-game series with Southeastern Conference foe Missouri.
