The Ole Miss Rebels baseball team opened their weekend series against the Auburn Tigers with an 11-7 Friday night victory on the road.
With the regular season starting to wind down, any win is a big win for the Rebels – who now hold a 24-21 overall record (8-14 SEC). Ole Miss junior RHP Riley Maddox made his 12th mound appearance of the season on Friday night and had himself a good but not great outing. The Pearl, Miss., native pitched for 5.0 innings and struck out three batters, but he also allowed eight hits, two walks, and four runs.
Fortunately, the Ole Miss offense gave Maddox more than enough support. Senior Jackson Ross gave the Rebels an early lead thanks to a solo home run in the top of the first inning and tacked on an RBI double to give Ole Miss a 5-1 lead over Auburn in the top of the third. Ross led the Rebels at the plate with three hits and two RBIs, good enough for a .301 batting average. Sophomore Andrew Fischer gave Ross a hand with a three-run bomb of his own in the third inning.
Three runs from the Tigers in the bottom half of the fourth made things interesting, but the Rebels had another four-run frame in the top of the fifth to extend their lead to 9-4 over Auburn. Sophomore Will Furniss led the way for Ole Miss in the fifth inning with a three-run bomb and Judd Utermark knocked in an RBI single to add to the Rebels’ lead. Ole Miss added on one run in the top of the seventh thanks to a walk from Eli Berch, and a Treyson Hughes single scored one more for the Rebels in the top of the ninth.
The Rebels ran into some trouble in the bottom of the ninth, as the bases were loaded with one out on the board, but a pitching change got Ole Miss through the final frame. Three walks in the bottom ninth helped the Tigers almost come back on Friday night.
Maddox was relieved by a combination of five Ole Miss relievers: Brayden Jones (1.2 IP), Gunnar Dennis (0.1 IP), JT Quinn (1.0 IP), Connor Spencer (0.1 IP), and Mason Morris (0.2 IP). In total, the Rebels’ bullpen allowed three runs and five walks to shut the door on the Tigers.
The Rebels will now look to take the series from the Tigers in game two of their weekend series on Saturday night. First pitch is set for 7 pm CT and the game will be televised on the SEC Network.
