Ole Miss Baseball defeated Arkansas State, 7-6, and Jackson State, 18-3, this week at Swayze Field in their first midweek matchups of the year.
Arkansas State
The Rebels walked it off after a messy game at Swayze Field on Tuesday, Feb. 17 against Arkansas State. The Ole Miss defense committed five errors, which allowed the Red Wolves to lead for most of the contest.
The Rebels’ offense looked sharp on a chilly night, scoring seven runs with the seventh coming via a Brayden Randle walk-off sacrifice fly.
Tristan Bissetta is still rolling early in the season. Against Arkansas State, he went 2-for-5 at the plate with a double and an RBI.
Collin Reuter tattooed a ball to deep left in the bottom of the fifth for the Rebels’ fourth run of the night. Reuter also singled to left, scoring Bissetta for his second RBI of the game.
Hayden Federico also had a solid night at the dish with two singles.
On the pitching side for the Rebels, Owen Kelly got the bump to start the game. Kelly went three innings with three strikeouts, but was unfortunately pulled due to the Rebels’ defensive errors driving up his pitch count.
Walker Hooks then came in after Kelly. He went 1.2 innings and gave up three runs on two hits and two walks.
From there, the Rebels pitching shut Arkansas State down. J.P. Robertson tossed 2.1 scoreless innings with five strikeouts. After that, Landon Koenig closed out the game, throwing two innings and three strikeouts.
Arkansas State showed how important putting the ball in play is. Ole Miss gave up six runs, but only three were earned. Luckily for the Rebels, the pitching and offense had their defenses back. The Rebels won 7-6.
Jackson State
Ole Miss turned around and had another game to play on Wednesday, Feb. 18, the Rebels dominated Jackson State 18-3.
Ole Miss learned from the night before and only had one error in this game.
Judd Utermark and Bissetta were on fire this game. Utermark went 2-for-4 with two homers and tallied six RBIs. Bissetta launched two home runs in the same inning and scored four runs. The last time an Ole Miss baseball player hit two homers in the same inning was Nick Fortes on May 2, 2017.
Terry Hayes Jr., a junior college transfer, got his first start as a Rebel against Jackson State. Hayes threw three innings, only gave up one earned run and struck out four. Owen Hancock came in after Hayes and threw a solid two innings, giving up one run and striking out three.
Noah Allen and Grayson Gibson closed the game, both tossed a shutout frame in the abbreviated seven inning, run-rule contest.
The Rebels were able to boot and rally to take care of business against Jackson State after a nail-biter the night before.
What’s next?
The Rebels go into the weekend with a 5-0 record against a 3-1 Missouri State team. First pitch is on Friday, Feb. 20 at 4 p.m. ESPN+ will broadcast the game.
