Mississippi’s Will Jamison slides safely into home past UT-Martin catcher Drew Erie (2) during an NCAA college baseball game in Oxford, Miss., Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2014.
(DM Photo/Ignacio Murillo)
A four-run eighth inning and four innings of two-hit baseball from sophomore right-hander Jacob Waguespack propelled the Ole Miss baseball team to a 6-0 home-opening win over Tennessee-Martin yesterday afternoon. With the win, the Rebels improved to 4-0 overall, while the loss dropped the Skyhawks to 0-4.
“It’s nice to win, but disappointed we didn’t play very well,” Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco said. “Certainly, didn’t play anywhere close to the way we did this past weekend. I thought we looked a little nervous, one of the things you worry about at the beginning of the season. We challenged the guys to not play the way we did tonight.”
Through the first seven innings, there wasn’t much offense to see.
The Rebels were able to get on the scoreboard in the third inning when freshman second baseman Dalton Dulin scored on a wild pitch. From there, things were pretty silent until the seventh inning.
It looked like Ole Miss was finally going to break the game open when it seemed as though senior designated hitter Preston Overbey hit a sacrifice fly that scored junior left fielder Braxton Lee. The Skyhawks tried to throw out junior center fielder Auston Bousfield out at third, but the throw got away and Bousfield also appeared to score on the play.
However, the umpires ruled a balk was called before the pitch, so Lee scored and Bousfield was sent back to third and Overbey back to the plate. Then, Ole Miss was unable to score any more runs until the eighth when they finally broke it open.
First, Dulin knocked in a run on a groundout. Following that, Lee increased the lead to 4-0 with a sacrifice fly. After Lee, Bousfield drove in another run on a single to center, and finally junior catcher Will Allen capped the scoring on an RBI groundout to push the lead to 6-0.
Senior third baseman Austin Anderson was the most efficient hitter on the day, as he went 2-for-3 with two walks.
Bianco was able to get a look at six different arms on the mound, but wasn’t particularly blown away with what he saw.
“I thought on the mound we weren’t sharp as well,” Bianco said. “I don’t know how many walks we ended up with, but of course a (hit by pitch) at the end too. So, we certainly weren’t super sharp on the mound either.”
Ole Miss was able to hold UT-Martin to just four hits and recorded seven strikeouts, but the Rebels did walk five Skyhawk hitters.
After Waguespack’s (1-0) day was complete, five other Rebel pitchers were able to put in an inning of work.
Sophomore right-hander Preston Tarkington pitched a perfect fifth inning and tallied a strikeout. Freshman left-hander Evan Anderson and senior left-hander Austin Blunt each allowed a walk. Junior right-hander Scott Weathersby allowed a hit-by-pitch, but he also recorded three strikeouts in his inning of work. Senior right-hander Jeremy Massie gave up two hits, but he also recorded a strikeout and closed things out.
“I thought Tark(ington) pitched real well,” Bianco said. “I thought Weathersby was pretty sharp besides the 1-2 breaking ball when he hit the guy. I thought Anderson for the first time out, it’s tough. It’s tough for anybody their first time out, but for his first collegiate appearance, I thought he looked sharp. But again, I think there is more in us.”
Next up for Ole Miss will be a three-game series this weekend against Georgia State beginning Friday at 4 p.m.
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