James McArthur’s second career start came against Memphis on March 2. The heralded freshman gave up five runs in 2.1 innings. It was his worst outing of the season.
(Photo by: Cameron Brooks)
Freshman James McArthur pitches in a game earlier this season. McArthur pitched one of his best games of the season on Tuesday night against Memphis.
On Wednesday night, against those same Tigers, McArthur pitched the best game of his young career as he pitched seven innings of no run ball in Ole Miss’ 7-0 victory over Memphis.
McArthur struggled to begin the year. After his first three outings of the season he had given up seven runs over 5.1 innings, good for a 11.81 ERA. Since then, the freshman has gone 33.1 innings and only given up six runs good for a 1.62 ERA. McArthur’s ERA is now 3.18 over 39.2 innings this season.
The Rebels got an RBI single from D.J. Miller, starting his first game in the outfield in his young career, in the second inning to give Ole Miss a 1-0 lead.
Ole Miss would add three insurance runs in the fifth inning to put the game out of reach.
With two outs in the top of the fifth inning and runners on first and second, Sophomore Will Golsan cranked out his third home run of the season to give the Rebels a 4-0 lead. Three pitches later freshman Michael Fitzsimmons crushed a ball over the fence for his third home run of the year and gave Ole Miss a 5-0 lead .
Ole Miss would tack on a run in the eighth inning as Colby Bortles deposited a ball over the fence at Autozone Park for his fourth home run of the season, giving the Rebels their final run of the night. The Rebels would then score again in the ninth inning to enhance thier lead to 7-0.
Ole Miss got two innings of scoreless relief from Brady Feigl as the freshman shut down the Tigers for the second time this season. Feigl went .2 innings and didn’t give up a run in the March 2 contest.
Ole Miss will take on Murray State on Wednesday at OU-Stadium in their next to last non-conference game in Oxford. Ole Miss will likely depend on the bullpen to get them through tomorrow’s contest against the Racers.
Murray State is 17-20 on the season and lost their only contest against an SEC opponent to Kentucky 11-1. The Racers RPI is 240 on the season, so it’s imperative that Ole Miss wins this midweek contest to avoid their first bad loss of the season.
Ole Miss will then host Auburn this weekend in a three game series beginning 6:30 Friday. The Tigers are currently 5-10 in the SEC, and won a Tuesday contest against Alabama State.
