For the first time in the young 2016 season, Ole Miss found itself in a close ball game in the 9th inning.
With the game tied at three, junior catcher Henri Lartigue led off the inning with a double down the left field line.
After a freshman Ryan Olenek sacrifice bunt was dropped at first base, and intentional walk to Conner Cloyd, senior outfielder Cameron Dishon stepped to the plate with the bases loaded and the winning run only 90 feet away.
“I was going into the at bat looking for something up in the zone, something that I could handle,” Dishon said.
That’s exactly what he got. Dishon lifted a 1-0 fastball to center field that was deep enough to score pinch runner Ray Alejo, giving the Rebels the 4-3 vicotry.
“You’ve gotta find ways. We may not have played well early, but we played well when it mattered down the stretch,” Dishon said.
It was Ole Miss’ fourth victory of the season. Arkansas State struck first by plating two runs in the second inning off of freshman right hander James McArthur, who was making his first career start for Ole Miss.
“I was proud that he hung in there. That was the message after the game,” Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco said. “I was proud that his best inning was his last inning. The really good guys go out on their terms.”
McArthur ran into trouble in the second after hitting the lead-off man and surrendering a base hit to the next guy. Arkansas State broke through on an RBI single through the right side to give them a 1-0 lead. The Red Wolves would score again on a bases loaded walk that inning.
Ole Miss answered with a pair of runs in the third on a pop fly to shallow right field off the bat of Lartigue that was dropped by the right fielder to tie the game at two.
Andy Pagnozzi came on in relief of McArthur in the fourth and pitched well in his second outing of the year. Pagnozzi struck out five over three innings and surrendered one run in that stretch.
The one run came after Jeremy Brown hit a lead-off triple to begin the seventh inning. Brown would later score on a two-out RBI single from Austin Baker off of David Parkinson, who came on in relief of Pagnozzi.
Ole Miss answered with a two-out RBI hit of their own in the eighth after Tate Blackman singled to left field to score Will Golsan, tying the game at 3.
“Tate’s doing a great job. As long as he keeps doing his thing, we’ll be just alright,” junior shortstop Errol Robinson said.
Blackman has gone 8-12 from the plate with nine RBIs to start the season.
Brady Feigl pitched a scoreless eighth inning for Ole Miss and Dallas Woolfolk followed suit in the ninth, setting up the ninth inning heroics.
“This is a tough game and there are going to be days where you don’t play well,” Bianco said. “The good clubs figure out a way to win, and win games that could have easily went the other way.”
Ole Miss returns to action Friday against second-ranked Louisville at Swayze Field. First pitch is set for 4 p.m.
