No.
11 Ole Miss (23-4/4-3 SEC) worked 11 innings and notched a 4-3 series-opening
victory over Florida (11-16/2-5 SEC) on Friday night at McKethan Stadium.
Junior Aaron Greenwood (3-0) threw two scoreless innings and gave up one hit to
pick up the win for the Rebels, while senior Brett Huber collected his seventh
save of the season as the Gators stranded the tying run on second base.
Junior
Will Allen (2-for-5) started the 11th inning with a double into left center
field and was replaced by junior pinch runner Austin Wilson. Sophomore Will
Jamison laid down a bunt and sophomore Johnny Magliozzi (East Milton,
Mass.) (2-1) attempted to throw Wilson out at third base. However, an errant
throw allowed Wilson to score the go-ahead run and Jamison to reach base.
Magliozzi caught junior Preston Overbey looking on strikes and had senior
Tanner Mathis ground into an inning-ending 6-3 double play.
Sophomore
Josh Tobias (Greensboro, N.C.) led off the bottom of the inning with a
four-pitch walk from Huber but was erased at second base on senior Cody Dent’s
(Boynton Beach, Fla.) sacrifice attempt. After sophomore Casey Turgeon
(Palm Harbor, Fla.) flew out to center field, Dent advanced into scoring
position on a wild pitch. Huber responded by having freshman Harrison Bader
(Bronxville, N.Y.) ground out to complete the contest.
“We
just have to get a big at-bat when we need it,” Florida head coach Kevin O’Sullivan
said. “It’s as simple as that. We scored two runs in the fourth inning, then we
go 0-2 on their leadoff hitter in the fifth, give up a 0-2 hit, then we walk
the next guy and end up giving them a run. Once again, the little things have
been hurting us.”
“[Daniel]
Gibson was really good tonight. I thought Mags [Johnny Magliozzi] was good. Our
relief [pitchers] did a nice job, but once again, we put ourselves in that
position in the ninth and 10th where we just needed one hit and the game would have
been over. There are positives, and we need to stress the positives. We are playing
better, but there’s no consolation for finishing close.”
Ole Miss grabbed a 1-0
lead in the first inning on a sacrifice fly by junior Austin Anderson. Senior
Tanner Mathis opened the game with a double into left field off of freshman
righty Jay Carmichael (Cape Coral, Fla.) and was sacrificed to third
base on a bunt by sophomore Auston Bousfield. Anderson’s fly ball to left field
brought home Mathis with the first run. With two down, junior Stuart Turner
drew a walk and senior Andrew Mistone (2-for-4) singled through the left side
of the infield. Carmichael ended the frame with a strikeout of sophomore Sikes
Orvis.
The Rebels loaded the
bases with one out in the second, as Allen had a leadoff single, was sacrificed
to second by Jamison and Overbey and Matthis were hit by pitches. Carmichael
worked out of the jam by having Bousfield line out to Dent and Anderson fly out
to right field.
Turgeon singled up the
middle with two down in the third and Bader drew a walk. However, junior Bobby Wahl
had sophomore Taylor Gushue (Boca Raton, Fla.) (2-for-5) ground out to
preserve the Rebels’ 1-0 advantage.
After Carmichael
struck out Allen to start the fourth, Jamison earned a free pass. Carmichael
struck out Overbey for the second out, with Jamison swiping second base on the
play. Heads-up base-running resulted in a 2-0 lead for Ole Miss, as Jamison
scored on a wild pitch from second base.
The Gators tied the
game at 2-2 in the bottom of the frame with a pair of sacrifice flies. Sophomore
Justin Shafer (Lake Wales, Fla.) (3-for-5) led off with his team-leading
11th double down the left-field line and went to third on a wild pitch by Wahl.
Redshirt sophomore Zack Powers (Seffner, Fla.) walked for Gators on the
corners and senior Vickash Ramjit (Miami, Fla.) delivered his
team-leading fifth sacrifice fly of the year into center field to narrow the
deficit to 2-1. Sophomore Connor Mitchell (Tampa, Fla.) blooped a single
into left field for two runners aboard and Tobias reached on a fielder’s choice
and Mitchell was safe at second base on a fielding error by Anderson to load
the bases with one out. Dent lofted a sacrifice fly into right field, his
second of the season, that plated Powers with the equalizer. Mitchell was
thrown out at home plate to complete the inning after Tobias was caught in a
run-down in between first and second base trying to enable his teammate to
score.
Ole Miss re-claimed
the lead in the fifth on a sacrifice fly by Orvis. Anderson singled up the
middle and Turner walked before Mistone moved both of his teammates into
scoring position with a bunt, prompting a pitching change. Junior Daniel
Gibson (Lutz, Fla.) replaced Carmichael (4.1 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 4 BB, 3 K) and
Orvis lofted his first pitch into left field for a sacrifice fly to bring home
Anderson.
In the home part of
the stanza, Bader stroked a one-out single into left field and stole second
base his team-high fifth theft. A grounder by Gushue nudged Bader to third and
a strong throw by Mistone from third base on Shafer’s bunt kept the Rebels in
front.
Dent doubled down the
right-field line with one out in the seventh and Wahl countered with a
strikeout of Turgeon, his first of the night. The right-hander then picked Dent
off second base to hold the score at 3-2.
Gushue delivered a
one-out double into the right-field corner, ending the night for Wahl (7.1 IP,
7 H, 3 R, 2 ER). Shafer greeted redshirt senior Tanner Bailey with an infield
single for runners on the corners and Powers came through with a single into
center field to score Gushue with the tying run. A grounder by Ramjit advanced
Shafer and Powers and freshman Matt Denny relieved Bailey (01. IP, 2 H). The
left-hander hit sophomore pinch hitter Mike Fahrman (Tampa, Fla.) to
load the bases but then had Tobias fly out to right field.
Gibson recorded the
first out in the ninth and was replaced by Magliozzi. Over a career-high four
innings in which he surrendered zero runs and had three strikeouts, Gibson
yielded two hits. Soon after, Magliozzi retired both Rebels he faced and was
boosted by a tremendous stop and throw by Dent that closed the inning.
Dent walked on four
pitches and Greenwood was summoned to replace Bailey. Turgeon laid down a
sacrifice bunt to move Dent into scoring position and Greenwood struck out
Bader and had Gushue fly out to right field to provide the fans with free
baseball.
After
Magliozzi retired the side in order in the 10th, Shafer led off with a base-hit into
right field and was sacrificed to second on a bunt by Powers. Greenwood set
down Ramjit on a grounder, moving Shafer to third, and struck out freshman
pinch hitter Kevin Stypulkowski (Lake Worth, Fla.) to send the game to
the 11th.
