Ole Miss Baseball defeated No. 13 national seed Nebraska, 6-3. With the win, the Rebels advanced to 2-0 in the Lincoln Regional. The game started on Saturday, May 30, but was suspended til the next day due to inclement weather.
The Rebels will play for the regional win against either Arizona State or Nebraska tonight at 7 p.m. Either team will have to beat Ole Miss twice in order to win the regional, while the Rebels need just one more win to advance to a super regional.
Shortstop Owen Paino delivered a two-run double in the sixth to give Ole Miss the lead. Starter Taylor Rabe was the star of the game with six innings pitched, one run on four hits, two walks and nine strikeouts.
The Cornhusker crowd showed up and was loud early. Starter Ty Horn worked around a single in the first with two strikeouts.
Rabe’s velocity was there early. He touched 98 and located it well, but he could not command the off speed stuff and threw 25 pitches in the first inning because of that.
Horn induced a double play and only threw 11 pitches in the second inning. Rabe was more efficient in the second. His velocity was still there and he generated swings and misses.
Neither team’s offense did much in the first three innings. The Rebels had three singles, while the Cornhuskers walked twice and singled once.
In the fourth, right fielder Tristan Bissetta reached on a hit by pitch then stole second to give Ole Miss their first runner in scoring position of the game. Paino grounded out to first to strand Bissetta.
Nebraska struck first with a two-out opposite field home run in the bottom of the fourth. It was the Cornhuskers second hit of the game. Rabe finished the inning with a swinging strikeout, then bounced back with a seven-pitch fifth inning.
Third baseman Judd Utermark, first baseman Will Furniss and Bissetta were due up in the sixth. Utermark struck out then Furniss stuck the bat out there and singled. After Bissetta struck out, Federico singled to center, advancing Furniss to third.
Paino clutched up and doubled to right-center to take the lead, 2-1. The double was Ole Miss’ first extra base hit of the game. Paino advanced to third on a wild pitch and Fawley drew a 10-pitch walk.
Horn left the game for Tucker Timmerman. Designated hitter Brayden Randle hit an RBI line drive over the second baseman to score Paino, 3-1.
The Rebels took some pressure off Rabe with the three-run frame, but things got dicey in the bottom of the inning.
Rabe gave up two one-out singles in the sixth. With a 3-1 count, and the crowd as loud as ever, Rabe had a lengthy PitchCom problem, which is used to communicate pitch calls from coaches to the pitcher and catcher, then he hit a batter to load the bases. Rabe got the second out looking and ended the threat with a groundout on his 113 pitch, the most of his career.
“I was having some PitchCom issues, and then once I got a PitchCom that was working, I had it all the way up and I couldn’t hear it,” Rabe said in a postgame interview. “I had to adapt there and just put it up to the ear, and then I could hear, but it wasn’t perfect.”
He came back to get his last batter after going down in the count 3-0. Rabe did exactly what Ole Miss needed him to. He pitched deep into the game and preserved the bullpen to set up the last three innings nicely.
“Honestly, I didn’t feel great. Felt a little out of sync the whole time,” Rabe said. “Didn’t really feel like I had my stuff, but I was able to get my slider down consistently, and I was getting some swing and miss on that, and then just cutters, keeping them down, that was working really well for me.”
In the seventh, Decker and Utermark walked to put two runners on with no outs. Southpaw Caleb Clark came into the game with Furniss and Bissetta due up. Clark got both of them out, then walked Federico.
Paino hit a pop up in foul territory that would have ended the frame, but Nebraska could not make the catch. The mistake proved to be costly after Paino walked with the bases loaded, 4-1.
Nebraska brought in right hander Pryce Bender to face Fawley with the bases loaded, who walked to score another run, 5-1.
JP Robertson entered the game in the seventh. Brett Moseley went to center field in place of starter Daniel Pacella and Federico slid over to left. Robertson got a strikeout and a groundout to end the inning.
Decker singled in the eighth, then Furniss singled with two outs for his third hit of the night. Decker was running on contact and hustled to third. The throw from left field got by the third baseman, allowing Decker to score, 6-1.
Nebraska began the bottom of the eighth with a swinging bunt single. A Cornhusker two-run homer made it 6-3. Robertson struck the next batter out swinging to end the inning.
The game was paused due to inclement weather and lightning. After an hour delay, the NCAA suspended the game with just one inning to go. It resumed the next day at noon.
The Rebels could not add on in the ninth and took a 6-3 lead into the final frame. Due to the suspension, Landon Waters came in to pitch the final inning in place of Robertson.
Nebraska led off with back-to-back singles. Head coach Mike Bianco brought in Hudson Calhoun, who induced a double play on two pitches. Utermark fielded a soft ground ball, stepped on third and threw to first for the first and second outs.
With a runner on second, Calhoun hit the next batter to bring the game-tying run to the plate. He ended the game with a grounder to Paino. Ole Miss held on to win the suspended game, 6-3.
What’s next?
With the win, Ole Miss moved to 2-0 in the Lincoln Regional. They will play the winner of the Arizona State versus Nebraska game, which is set for 2 p.m., at 7 p.m.
While the Rebels still have work to do, with Auburn in an elimination game in their own regional at 2 p.m on Sunday, there is a chance Ole Miss could host a super regional.
