Ole Miss baseball played spoiler against No. 11 Southern Miss on a record night at Pete Taylor Park in Hattiesburg Wednesday.
The Rebels defeated the Golden Eagles 4-1 Wednesday, disappointing a stadium record crowd of 6,346 fans. Ole Miss (28-19, 10-14 SEC) surged ahead with back-to-back home runs from Kevin Graham and Kemp Alderman in the fourth inning to seize a 3-1 lead. First baseman Tim Elko singled in an insurance run in the fifth inning to turn a three-run lead over to the Rebels’ bullpen.
Southern Miss (36-13, 18-6 C-USA) and Ole Miss have now split their last 32 meetings with 16 wins apiece dating back to 2007.
Junior right-hander Drew McDaniel worked around a second-inning solo home run from Southern Miss first baseman Christopher Sargent to pitch one of his best games of 2022. He allowed the one run on four hits with two walks and eight strikeouts in five innings. His five innings and eight strikeouts both tied season highs.
WHY THIS MATTERS:After Missouri sweep, is Ole Miss baseball back on track, or back to beating up bad teams?
After McDaniel, Ole Miss mixed and matched bullpen arms to limit Southern Miss’ potent offense. The Golden Eagles tagged Ole Miss’ bullpen for seven earned runs in 6 ⅓ innings on April 5. But Wednesday, the combination of Jackson Kimbrell, Josh Mallitz and Brandon Johnson threw four shutout frames with seven strikeouts against one hit, one walk and one hit batter.
Southern Miss’ offense has had a rough go over its last five games. Over that stretch, the Golden Eagles have batted 33-for-164 (.200) with 42 strikeouts and 29 walks. Their their 14 strikeouts Wednesday were a season high.
THIS TEAM’S SUCCESS:How Southern Miss baseball found its spark and became one of the hottest teams in the country
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Ole Miss returns to action on Friday for the first game of a three-game series against LSU in Baton Rouge. Southern Miss begins a three-game series against UTSA at home on Friday.
Ole Miss baseball vs. Southern Miss: Live score updates
What time, TV channel will Ole Miss baseball vs. Southern Miss be on?
First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m. The game will not be televised but it will be available to stream online via ESPN+. ESPN+ is a subscription service unlike WatchESPN and the SEC Network Plus, so you may require more than just a cable password to access the game.
Contact Nick Suss at 601-408-2674 or [email protected]. Follow @nicksuss on Twitter.
