Mississippi players celebrate after an NCAA college baseball game against Florida in Oxford, Miss., Saturday, March 21, 2015. Mississippi won 5-2. (Photo/Thomas Graning)
Game 1 – Ole Miss 4, Florida 1
Ole Miss took game one of a three-game series against top ranked Florida on Friday by a score of 4-1.
Great pitching led the way for the Rebels in game one as junior Christian Trent and senior Scott Weathersby combined to allow just one run on three hits against a strong Florida offense.
After suffering his first career loss last weekend at LSU, Trent was back on the hill Friday for the Rebels and was sharp from the start. He retired his first eight batters and allowed just one run on three hits in 6.1 innings of play.
“I thought he was outstanding. It was by far his best outing of the year,” head coach Mike Bianco said of Trent’s performance. “He really located his fastball on both sides of the plate and had a really good change-up. And like he can do, when he got into that jam in the fifth, he’s able to make some pitches and get out of it.”
Junior center fielder J.B. Woodman got the Rebel offense going early with a two-run home run to right center in the first, giving the Rebels the early 2-0 lead. It was Woodman’s third home run of the year, already surpassing his total from a year ago.
“It was huge to get on top of a team that good and get on top of them early,” Trent said. “The whole game changes once you put it on them early, and it got the crowd into it.”
Senior catcher Austin Knight added to the Rebels’ lead with a two-RBI single in the sixth. It proved to be more than enough, as Ole Miss cruised to a 4-1 victory from there.
Right hander Weathersby came on in relief with one out in the 7th and retired all eight batters he faced, which secured the win.
“This is the best we have played. We pitched really well and defended great,” Bianco said. “I thought we moved better tonight.”
Game 2 – Ole Miss 5, Florida 2
Ole Miss took the first game of a double-header Saturday by a score of 5-2, clinching the series win for the Rebels.
Senior first baseman Sikes Orvis launched a towering three-run home run in the first inning, which gave Ole Miss the early lead. It was Orvis’s sixth home run of the season. The homer from Orvis proved to be plenty for sophomore right-hander Brady Bramlett. Bramlett pitched another great start going six innings strong with giving up just two runs (one earned) on six hits with two walks and six strikeouts.
“It was awesome,” Bramlett said of the quick start. “Sikes comes in and drops a bomb. It’s always great when you get three runs in the first.”
Bramlett ran into trouble in the fourth as the Gators had the bases loaded with no outs, but he limited the damage by allowing just two runs and stranding runners at first and second, ending the Gator’s scoring chances.
“It was a great weekend for us. We grew up a lot this week,” Bramlett said. “We are starting to find our character, and we are starting to roll with it.”
Ole Miss added another run in the second after a two-out RBI single by freshman third baseman Will Golsan and added one more again in the third after a stand-up double by Sikes Orvis that scored J.B. Woodman.
Orvis led the charge offensively with four RBIs in the game.
Junior right-hander Jacob Waguespack and sophomore left-hander Wyatt Short came on in relief and kept the Gators scoreless through the final four frames.
Florida threatened in the seventh and eighth, but Waguespack kept them off of the scoreboard including working out of a bases-loaded jam in the eighth.
Short retired the Gators in order in the ninth and picked up his second save of the season as Ole Miss took a 2-0 series lead.
Game 3 – Florida 8,
Ole Miss 4
Florida managed to salvage the final game of the series, winning by a score of 8-4.
Finding a consistent Sunday starter has been a question mark all week for Ole Miss after the recent struggles of senior right-hander Sam Smith. Freshman right-hander Will Stokes got the nod in game three, making his first career start for Ole Miss.
Stokes struggled in his first start, allowing five runs on seven hits in just 2.2 innings of work.
“I’ll just try to learn from it, get better and make my pitches more consistently next time,” Stokes said.
Florida jumped out to an early lead, scoring in each of the first three innings, including a three-run second inning.
Ole Miss broke through in the fifth after an RBI double by sophomore Henri Lartigue that scored sophomore shortstop Errol Robinson to put Ole Miss on the board.
Junior right-hander Drake Robison provided his longest relief outing of the season by going three innings, giving up two runs on just two hits against the Gator offense.
Senior right hander Sam Smith also came out of the bullpen and made his longest relief outing, giving up a run on three hits in 2.1 innings of work.
Ole Miss attempted a late comeback after scoring three runs and loading the bases in the 9th, but the deficit was too large to close.
Despite losing the final game, Ole Miss took the series from top ranked Florida, improving to 13-10 and 3-3 in Southeastern Conference play. Ole Miss is now 4-0 at home against top ranked teams since 2003.
“We’re proud that we won two out of three,” head coach Mike Bianco said. “I’m proud of the way we played overall for the weekend against a very, very good Florida team. We’re getting better. We have shown that the last couple of weeks.”
