Ole Miss Baseball: Rebels beat Mizzou in wild 20-14 shootout, drop series

Ole Miss OF John Kramer (17) takes a swing during the Ole Miss vs. Mississippi State Governor's Cup baseball game at Trustmark Park in Pearl, Miss., Tuesday, April 25, 2023.TCL OleMissvMSU214
Ole Miss OF John Kramer (17) takes a swing during the Ole Miss vs. Mississippi State Governor's Cup baseball game at Trustmark Park in Pearl, Miss., Tuesday, April 25, 2023.TCL OleMissvMSU214 /
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Ole Miss baseball closed out their three-game series against the Missouri Tigers with a wild 20-14 win but would lose the overall series 1-2.

It’s been a rollercoaster of a season for Ole Miss baseball. After a hot 14-2 start, they were dominating in the early part of their schedule before disaster struck against Jacksonville State back on March 14. After losing to JSU as a heavy favorite, they were dominated in a three-game series against top-ranked Vanderbilt, and the train has yet to get all the way back on the tracks.

They’ve struggled mightily against SEC opponents this year, winning only one series against an SEC opponent two weeks ago against the Georgia Bulldogs two games to one. The struggles however returned against the Missouri Tigers this past weekend.

In game one the two teams combined for 20 runs on 21 hits in a high scoring 11-9 affair in which the Tigers would beat the Rebels. Missouri scored nine unanswered runs in the last three innings to erase a seven-run deficit in the win. The Rebels accounted for three home runs on the night and struck out 13 Tigers but would go on to give up five home runs of their own.

Game two would be much more lopsided in favor of the Tigers as Ole Miss allowed four home runs in a run-rule loss through just seven innings where Missouri would go on to win 13-3. Ole Miss posted double-digit hits for the fourth game in a row but they were only able to score three total runs which all came after the fourth inning.

Game three would turn out to be a barn burner and Ole Miss catcher Calvin Harris set a new program record for home runs in a game when he hit four in the Rebels’ 20-14 win over the Tigers on Saturday. He also tied the program record for RBI in a game with 10 total runs driven in.

The two teams combined for 34 total runs, 31 hits, and 12 home runs on the day in what was an exciting offense-filled game three. Ole Miss is now barely floating above .500 on the year at 25-23 overall and 6-18 in conference play.