Ole Miss Baseball ended its season against Troy, 12-8, on Sunday, June 14 at Charles Schwab Field Omaha. The Trojans scored three in the fifth, four in the seventh and three in the eighth to win the game.
Head coach Mike Bianco sent veteran Hunter Elliott to the mound.
Troy led off the game with a double to left-center. Elliott got the first out of the inning with a swinging strikeout, the second out looking at a fastball and the final out swinging to punch out the side and strand the runner at second.
Second baseman Dom Decker ripped the first pitch he saw right at the first baseman. The hit was too hot to handle and rolled to the wall in foul territory. Decker reached second on the error. The next pitch was wild, allowing Decker to move to third.
Third baseman Judd Utermark delivered an RBI single to take the lead, 1-0. Center fielder Hayden Federico doubled down the left field line and the fielder misplayed it, allowing a second run to score.
Elliott walked the leadoff man in the second. Left fielder Brayden Randle, who has only played a few games in the outfield, made a diving grab in foul territory for the first out of the frame.
The Trojans tied the game with a two-run homer from Sean Darnell. The ball landed several rows into the outfield bleachers.
Elliott walked another batter. All four balls were easy takes for the batter. He got out of the inning with his fourth strikeout and a fly out.
Catcher Austin Fawley led off the bottom of the second with a single. Randle put the Rebels back ahead with a two-run homer to right.
After Elliott worked around a two-out walk with a strikeout in the third, first baseman Will Furniss began the bottom of the inning with a walk. Troy starter Tommy Egan departed the game after that and lefty Hayden Smith came into the game.
Smith struck out right fielder Tristan Bissetta, then Federico drew a walk to put runners on first and second. Fawley popped out to end the inning.
With one out in the fourth, Elliott hit a batter with two strikes. Troy put two runners on base with a two-out single, but Elliott induced a ground out to leave both runners on.
Randle got his second hit of the day with a single to right in the fourth. The wind carried designated hitter Collin Reuter’s fly ball to the bullpen for Ole Miss’ second two-run homer of the day, 6-2.
The walk ended Smith’s day and Noah Thigpen came in to face Utermark, who went down on strikes quickly. Furniss struck out, then Bissetta singled to left. Federico fell in the count 0-2, but battled back to a full count. He grounded out into the shift to end the inning.
Elliott let another leadoff hitter reach with a single in the fifth. He struck out the next batter on a slider. Catcher Jimmy Janicki singled to get a runner in scoring position. Elliott got another swinging strikeout with a slider.
He could not get the third out swinging on the same pitch and loaded the bases. The game-tying run came to the plate, Darnell. He hit a two-run homer earlier in the game. On a 1-2 count, the umpires called a balk on Elliott, allowing a run to score, 6-3.
Troy beat the shift with a single through the left side just past the glove of shortstop Owen Paino to make it 6-5. Another single ended Elliott’s day. JP Robertson came in to replace him.
Elliott threw 97 pitches in 4 ⅔ innings, allowed five runs on seven hits, walked four and struck out nine.
Robertson got a two-pitch out to end the inning. The Rebels came into the top of the fifth with a four-run lead, but that evaporated to just one run by the end of the frame. The bats could not respond in the fifth.
Robertson worked a clean sixth inning. Federico and Randle collided on a fly ball in left center, but Federico caught it for the second out. Randle appeared to trip Federico. Neither player was injured on the play.
Reuter began the bottom of the sixth with a single. Furniss walked with two outs. Bissetta came to the plate and grounded out to strand two more runners on base.
Troy tied the game with a solo home run in the seventh. Robertson gave up a single and Bianco brought in Walker Hooks. He walked the first batter he faced on four pitches. The next batter doubled to score two and take the lead, 8-6. Another single made it 9-6.
Federico singled to begin the bottom of the seventh. Paino grounded out, but because the shift was on, Federico was able to get to third. Fawley singled to get Ole Miss within two, 9-7.
Hooks gave up another homer in the eighth, 10-7. Wil Libbert replaced Hooks. He got two outs before walking a batter and giving up a hit to put runners on the corners. Paino made an error on an infield popup, allowing two runs to score, 12-7.
Furniss hit a solo homer in the eighth, 12-8, but it was too little too late. The Rebels’ postseason run came to an end against the Trojans. Ole Miss went 0-2 in the College World Series to end the season.
