Ole Miss entered its midweek matchup with Mississippi State in need of a win. The Rebels dropped their series to a below-par South Carolina team the previous weekend, lost their midweek game to Little Rock last week and dropped a heartbreaker to Tennessee the weekend before that.
Despite the game not technically being a “must-win” contest, since it does not count as a conference win or loss, it is still viewed as a league win by the NCAA Tournament committee.
Freshman Cade Townsend got the start on the bump for Ole Miss. His last outing came in the loss to Little Rock, where he pitched four innings, giving up three runs on just two hits and striking out seven Trojans. Townsend was looking at another quality start on Tuesday.
Townsend allowed one run in the first inning after a double and wild pitch moved the runner to third followed by a sac fly. A flawless second inning of work instilled confidence into the righty before he trotted back out for the third. However, a near 45-minute weather delay did not help Townsend’s rhythm as the Bulldogs jumped on him early in the third inning.
Two singles, a double and a wild pitch saw the Bulldogs’ lead go to 3-0 before Townsend was pulled.
Ole Miss’ offense may have had a slow start, but the team came through when needed. A two-run fourth inning and a three-run fifth inning gave the Rebels a 5-3 lead going into the sixth inning.
That lead, however, was short-lived. A four-run State sixth gave the Bulldogs the lead in a quick response to the Rebels’ offensive burst.
The seventh, eight and top of the ninth went scoreless. The game boiled down to three outs in the Ole Miss half of the ninth.
An Isaac Humphrey single with one gone brought up the hottest bat in the Rebel lineup, Austin Fawley. Something about the Rebels “getting hot” always seems to bring trouble to whoever is the opposing team. Fawley sent a moonshot to left field to tie the game in the ninth.
Another performance that should not go unnoticed is Hudson Calhoun’s relief effort out of the bullpen. Calhoun pitched three innings, struck out seven and faced only 10 batters because of an error in the top of the ninth.
A flawless 10th inning from the sophomore where he struck out two batters on 3-2 counts sent the game to the bottom half still knotted up.
The bottom of the 10th would not disappoint. A leadoff single by Brayden Randle followed by a wild pitch had a runner at second with nobody out for the top of the lineup. The Rebels had left more than 10 runners on base already, a somewhat common theme in recent weeks.
A strikeout of Mitchell Sanford followed by a Luke Hill foul-out suddenly drained almost all momentum in the inning but not all. Another wild pitch advanced Randle to third with Will Furniss at the plate. Furniss sent a liner into left-center to score Randle and walk it off.
Who’s next?
The comeback win gave the Rebels momentum heading into a big series with Vanderbilt in Oxford.
Game one against No. 9 Vanderbilt is Friday at 6:30 p.m at Swayze Field. SEC Network+ will broadcast the game.
