A fan raises a cup in salute to the Solo cup races during Friday’s game against Auburn. Ole Miss won 8-5 in extra innings.
Alex Edwards I The Daily Mississippian
FRIDAY: Ole Miss 8, Auburn 5
No. 16 Ole Miss (23-8, 5-5 Southeastern Conference) is no stranger when it comes to walk-off wins this season. However, its most recent one came in a way no one expected.
With two runners on in the bottom of the 13th, senior Austin Anderson stepped to the plate. After being intentionally walked his previous two at-bats, Auburn (19-12, 5-5 SEC) once again planned to put Anderson on base intentionally, but that didn’t work. Despite having the catcher call for a ball off the plate and outside, the Auburn pitcher hung a pitch right down the middle that Anderson crushed over the left field wall, giving the Rebels an 8-5 win.
Anderson said he wasn’t surprised to get the pitch right down the middle.
“The first time they intentionally walked me, the first pitch was kind of the same thing,” Anderson said. “They didn’t call it a strike because the umpire said they were trying to put me on base. The second time I was ready for it, and they didn’t try it. And the third time, he just tried to get one by me. Second and third with no outs, I was just trying to hit a sac fly, and I squared it up.”
Ole Miss fell behind early, giving up a run in the top half of the first, but both offenses were quiet until the fifth, with Auburn putting up another run on a sacrifice fly and Ole Miss tying things up at two on RBI singles from junior Braxton Lee and senior Preston Overbey.
In the sixth, Auburn would push the lead to 5-2 behind a two-run double and RBI single, and it seemed the Rebels were in trouble. However, a three-run bottom of the eighth powered by an RBI double from junior Sikes Orvis, an RBI single from freshman J.B. Woodman and a sacrifice fly from junior Will Jamison tied things up again, forcing extra innings, eventually leading to the Anderson home run.
SATURDAY (Game 1) Ole Miss 6, Auburn 0
Sophomore Christian Trent (4-0) tossed a complete game shutout as No. 16 Ole Miss (24-8, 6-5 SEC) defeated Auburn (19-13, 5-6 SEC) 6-0 in game one of a doubleheader Saturday afternoon. The win clinched the series for the Rebels and pushed them back over the .500 mark in conference play.
It was Trent’s first complete game of the season, and he allowed just five hits while striking out seven.
“It felt good,” Trent said of his outing. “I felt like I was struggling a little bit with the walks and stuff, but I felt like I started to lock in in the third of the fourth. And then the game kept rolling, making it easier.”
It took the Rebel bats a little while to come to life and give Trent some run support, but they eventually would, putting together a three-run fifth inning and posting two runs in the sixth to propel Ole Miss to the win.
Freshman J.B. Woodman got the scoring started when he scored on a passed ball in the bottom of the second. Junior Braxton Lee added an RBI single in the fifth, and senior Will Allen knocked in two more runs in the fifth to push the lead to 4-0. Woodman would then steal home in the sixth, and freshman Errol Robinson capped the scoring with an RBI single in the sixth.
SATURDAY (Game 2) Ole Miss 5, Auburn 1
No. 16 Ole Miss (25-8, 7-5 SEC) was propelled by a five-run sixth inning and 6.2 solid innings from starter Sam Smith Saturday afternoon in its 5-1 win over Auburn. The win clinched a sweep of the Tigers for the Rebels.
“It’s almost 180-degree difference how we feel today as we did walking out of Alabama,” Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco said. “That’s what this league will do. You’ve got to be careful you don’t get too down on yourself. This was a great day for us, but this was also a great week for us. It’s a lesson for them and for everybody. This league is very humbling. You’ve got to get off the mat and keep playing and fighting.”
It took the Ole Miss offense a while to get going, but it was eventually able to get Smith some run support. Junior Auston Bousfield got the scoring started for the Rebels with a two-run double. Junior Sikes Orvis then followed that up with a two-run single, and finally sophomore Holt Perdzock capped the Rebel scoring with a pinch-hit RBI single. Auburn would scratch across a run in the top of the seventh, but it was too little too late.
Next up for Ole Miss is a matchup at Memphis on Tuesday night.
