Three weeks ago, David Parkinson was thrown into a role that he probably didn’t anticipate being in at the beginning of the year. With the inconsistencies that loomed in the Ole Miss rotation, he was asked to give the Rebels a chance to win in game two, and when he walked off of the mound on Saturday in the sixth inning to a warm ovation from the more than 10,000 fans at Swayze field, he’d done just that.
Parkinson’s 5.1 innings, while yielding two runs on six hits to Auburn’s lineup gave OleMiss a chance to win, and it did just that for the 30th time this year, this time by a mark of 7-4.
With three starts under his belt to this point, he seems to be acclimating to the role of a starter in the SEC. Whether it’s added confidence or simply his ability, he doesn’t quite know.
“I can’t really answer that with certainty. I just try to go out there and fill up the zone,” Parkinson said. “I don’t really know if it’s a confidence thing or not, but I just go out there and try my best,”
“The change was made because we need somebody to give us a lift, and give us an opportunity to win on Saturday,” head coach Mike Bianco said. “He’s been terrific.”
His efforts are paying dividends, and it did not hurt that Ole Miss scored five runs in the first two innings to add to Parkinson’s confidence.
“We went out there and threw the first punch, and just tried to have quality at bats,” catcher Henri Lartigue said. “That’s all you can ask for. You can’t control getting a hit, can’t control scoring a run, but you can control having a quality at bat and our guys did that.”
The punch was felt by Auburn. Colby Bortles drew first blood with an RBI groundout in the first before a four-run second inning allowed Ole Miss to take control of the game.
Ryan Olenek stepped to the plate with the bases loaded in the second, and laced one right back into the direction of Auburn starter Justin Camp that found its way into center field for a two-RBI single.
A sacrifice fly from Tate Blackman, and a similar looking single from J.B. Woodman accounted for the second half of the four runs in the inning that helped loosen Parkinson up at bit as he jogged out to the mound with a five-run lead.
“It definitely does because instead of missing off of the plate, you can missing off of the plate, you can miss over the plate and let your defense make a lot more plays behind you,” Parkinson said. “It’s a lot easier.
Auburn grabbed one run in the fourth, and another in the sixth in an inning that Parkinson was ousted from the game. Connor Green took the ball from Parkinson and held Auburn scoreless into the eighth before allowing a pair of runs that called for Will Stokes to finish the game off for the second day in a row.
“The truth of the matter is that he was lights out, and did what we needed him to do,” Bianco said of Green. “He was about a pitch away from getting through it, but he was lift that we really needed.”
Stokes slammed the door with a three up and three down ninth inning to record his sixth save of the year, tying Wyatt Short for the team lead in that category. It also got Ole Miss to 30-10 on the year and over the .500 mark in SEC play at 9-8.
The Rebels will try to complete a sweep of Auburn tomorrow at 1 p.m.
