No.4 Ole Miss baseball was back in action Sunday in Hoover as they faced the LSU Tigers in the 2018 SEC Tourney Championship.
No.4 Ole Miss baseball (46-15) made the SEC Tourney championship game coming off a huge 2-1 win over Texas A&M Saturday. The Rebels would be facing the LSU Tigers (37-19) who had eliminated Arkansas on Saturday. Of course, with the history LSU has in the SEC Tourney we expected a tough game and that’s just what the Tigers got from the Rebels Sunday.
The LSU Tigers jumped on the board first with 1 run in the bottom of the 1st to take the early 1-0 lead. Ole Miss answered with 1 run in the top of the 2nd to tie the game at 1-1 but the Rebels never looked back. The Rebels added 1 more run in the top of the 3rd to take the 2-1 lead. The Rebels added another run in the top of the 4th to extend the lead to 3-1.
With the 3-1 lead thru the 6th the Rebels exploded with 4 runs in the top of the 7th to seize a 7-1 lead over the Tigers. However, the Rebels weren’t done scoring and added 2 more insurance runs in the top of the 9th to take the 9-1 lead into the bottom of the inning. LSU couldn’t produce anything in the bottom of the frame and Ole Miss earned the 9-1 win over LSU.
SEC CHAMPS! pic.twitter.com/wNwoDeSOyr
— Ole Miss Baseball (@OleMissBSB) May 27, 2018
Of course, the win was huge and gave the Rebels the 2018 SEC Tourney Championship. The win was the Rebels 4th consecutive win over the top teams in the tourney and all four teams will be playing or hosting in the NCAA Tourney. This means momentum for the Rebels as they are expected to host the Oxford regional which is set to begin Friday. For now, we look at this huge win by the numbers.
By The Numbers
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Sophomore right-hander Houston Roth (5-0, 4.53) drew the start on the hill for the Rebels. Roth went for 4.1 innings and allowed just 1 earned run on 4 hits. Roth had 4 Ks and 1 BB. Coach Mike Bianco made the call to the pen in the 5th and senior right-hander Will Stokes (1-1, 6.85, 1) entered. Stokes went for 0.2 innings finishing out the 5th for the Rebels. Stokes had 1 K and 1 BB.
Sophomore lefty Ryan Rolison (9-4, 3.79) entered in the 6th and went for 2.0 innings on the hill in relief. Rolison had 3 Ks and 1 BB. Sophomore right-hander Greer Holston (2-1, 3.31) entered in the 8th and finished out the game on the hill for the Rebels pitching staff. Holston went 2.0 innings and allowed no hits. Holston had 3 Ks and 1 BB.
At The Plate
Against LSU pitching there were 9 Rebels who combined for a whopping 15 hits. Three Rebels also had multiple hit games against the Tigers. Leading all Rebels was junior Nick Fortes (.320, 11 HR) who went a perfect 4 for 4 at the plate. Fortes had 1 RBI. Senior Will Golsan (.303, 4 HR) went 3 for 5 at the plate while senior Tim Rowe (.286, 2 HR) went 2 for 5 (HR) at the plate. Both Golsan and Rowe had 2 RBI each.
Sophomore Grae Kessinger (.304, 7 HR) went 1 for 1 before stepping out of the game with an injury. Junior Michael Fitzsimmons (.458, 3 HR) also went 1 for 1 (HR) and had 2 RBI. Junior Jacob Adams (.243, 3 HR) went 1 for 3 while Chase Cockrell (.327, 9 HR) went 1 for 4 with 1 RBI. Freshman Anthony Servideo (.217, 1 HR) and sophomore Cole Zabowski (.308, 9 HR) both went 1 for 5 at the plate.
Up Next
No.4 Ole Miss baseball will be back in action this Friday. The Rebels will host the Oxford NCAA Regional as the No.4 overall national seed. The Rebels will face the St. Louis Billikens for their first game in the weekend regional. The Oxford regional will also be the landing spot for Tennessee Tech and Missouri State. First pitch for coach Mike Bianco and the Rebels is set for Friday at 6:30 pm CT. The game will be televised via the SEC Network. Good luck Rebels! Hotty Toddy!