Tate Blackman did not have the freshman season he had hoped for a year ago, and he was bound and determined to get off to a better start this year. He did just that in Ole Miss’s 9-2 opening day win over Florida International.
The sophomore second baseman went 2-4 with a pair of RBIs including a solo home run to left field to lead off the second inning in his first at bat of the season to give the Rebels an early 2-0 lead.
“It felt good. After last year, just coming out and he gave me a good pitch, and I got it up there in the wind,” Blackman said of the home run. “I just believed in the process, believed in my team. I definitely came out here and just had a fun day.”
After seeing Blackman struggle in his first year, coach Mike Bianco was proud of his young infielder’s resiliency and strong start in 2016.
“Last year so much was put on him, and it’s a very humbling game, and very humbling league that we play in. I’m so proud of the way he’s handled it.” Bianco said. “I don’t know if i’ve ever seen somebody handle it like Tate. Just a big smile on his face, a lot of energy, and again great to see him get off to a good start.”
Blackman’s home run was the start of a four run inning for Ole Miss that quickly gave starter Brady Bramlett a 5-0 lead to work with after just two innings.
“I couldn’t have asked for a better night tonight. I felt great off the mound, and just to have that offense behind me, it makes it a lot easier.” Bramlett said.
The red shirt junior went five innings, allowing just one hit, one walk and no earned runs in his season debut, and picked up his first win in 2016.
“He was able to really locate the ball on both sides of the plate with his fastball. I thought his velocity was good early. He threw a bunch of balls in the 90’s,” Bianco said.
Juniors J.B. Woodman and Errol Robinson each had a pair of hits on the night, and Woodman had 2 RBIs as well. Seven different Rebels tallied hits in the win
“Obviously when you play like you did today on opening day it makes you excited, and that’s what you were hoping for,” Bianco said. “That was really the message the last few days was to be really aggressive.”
Ole Miss also got to see a couple of new faces come out of the bullpen on the night. Andrew Lowe, David Parkinson, and Dallas Woolfolk all made their Ole Miss debuts.
Lowe struggled a bit, allowing two runs on two hits and three walks, but Parkinson pitched 2.2 innings of shutout baseball, and did not allow a hit.
“We know we are going to use a lot of people that haven’t pitched yet,” Bianco said. “And for David to come in and get that double play ball, and he looked really sharp.”
Woolfolk finished off the win with a scoreless ninth inning of work, as the Rebels improved to 1-0 on the year. Ole Miss and Florida International square off on Saturday in game two of the three game series. First pitch is set for 1:30 p.m.
