No.8 Ole Miss baseball wasted little time in securing the series against Eastern Illinois and went for the series sweep Sunday at Swayze Field.
No.8 Ole Miss baseball was entering game-3 of the weekend series sitting in the driver’s seat to a sweep. Ole Miss has had surprising success at closing out series this season and their only hiccup came to a gritty Long Beach State Dirtbags team. (Do you see what I did there?) At any rate, the Rebels were sitting in a great spot for the Sunday match-up with Eastern Illinois.
The Rebels won the first two meetings in a double-header which was played Friday. With a day of rest we could expect the Rebels to pick up right where they left off and they did. Eastern Illinois got on the board first in the top of the 2nd with 1 run. However, Ole Miss responded loudly in the bottom of the frame with 4 runs and maintained the lead the rest of the way. EIU did add runs in the 4th and 5th but the Rebels responded equally in each frame and added a run in the 7th to ice the 7-3 decision.
HIGHLIGHTS | Ole Miss defeats Eastern Illinois Game 3: 7 - 3 (03/11/18) #WAOM #FinsUpRebels pic.twitter.com/F0yOL4nMfr
— Ole Miss Baseball (@OleMissBSB) March 11, 2018
The Rebels are playing really good baseball right now and secured their third series sweep of the season. Of course, when we break down the stats we can see just how well they are producing on the mound and at the plate.
By The Numbers
Of course, junior James McArthur drew the Sunday start on the hill. McArthur went 5.1 innings and allowed 3 earned runs on 4 hits. McArthur had 4 Ks and 1 BB. Senior Will Stokes entered in the 6th and pitched 1.2 innings of work on the mound. Stokes allowed no hits. Red-shirt sophomore Parker Caracci entered in the 8th and pitched 1.0 inning. Caracci allowed no runs on only one hit. Caracci had 1 K. Junior Dallas Woolfolk pitched the final frame and allowed 1 hit.
At the plate the Rebels had 8 batters combine for 7 runs on 13 hits. Ole Miss baseball had four batters who recorded multiple hit games. Junior Chase Cockrell led all Rebels going 3 for 3 at the plate. Cockrell had 2 RBI in the game. Sophomore Grae Kessinger, junior Ryan Olenek and sophomore Thomas Dillard all went 2 for 4 at the plate. Kessinger had 1 RBI while Olenek had 2 RBI.
Other Rebels who produced offensively were senior Will Golsan, junior Nick Fortes, sophomore Cooper Johnson and freshman Jacob Adams. Golsan went 1 for 3 with RBI. Fortes went 1 for 3 on the day while Johnson went 1 for 4 with a RBI. Adams went 1 for 4 as well.
Up Next
Ole Miss baseball hits the road this week to take on a scrappy Georgia State team in Atlanta. The two-game midweek series begins Tuesday. First pitch for game-one is set for 5pm CT and game-two is set for 2pm CT Wednesday. Good luck to coach Mike Bianco and the Rebels this week. Hotty Toddy!