Rebs Shut Out Georgia State in Game-One of Series

On a beautiful Friday afternoon at Swayze Field, Ole Miss shut out the Georgia State Panthers by a score of 3-0 on the arm of junior right-handed pitcher Chris Ellis.
This victory gave the Rebels their fifth win of the season.
Ellis (2-0) threw his first complete game in a Rebel uniform. As he worked nine innings and only gave up five hits with no runs allowed to the Panthers.
“I thought they came out ready to swing the bats pretty well and it kind of jarred me at first,” Ellis said. “Then I was able to pitch down in the zone and in the second inning Jamison got us a big hit. Once we had a lead it got easier to pitch as the other team started pressing for runs.
“It really wasn’t until I finished the eighth when coach B (Bianco) came up to me and wanted to know if I wanted to finish,” Ellis said.
After the game, Ole Miss coach Mike Bianco discussed how pleased he was with the performance of his starter:
“Chris (Ellis) was terrific,” he said. “In 13-plus years, I haven’t seen too many complete games shutouts here. Tonight he was excellent. He had three pitches in the strike zone. That’s a very good offense. Georgia State was ranked in the top five in runs scored. They got good swings off tonight, even as good as Chris was on the mound.”
The Rebels’ bats began cranking up in the second inning with back-to-back singles by Sikes Orvis and Preston Overbey.  Then junior Will Jamison brought both of them home on a RBI single.
Ole Miss would then plate their last run in the fourth inning off of a bases-loaded RBI walk awarded to Braxton Lee, which brought in Overbey from third-base.
The Panthers’ starter, Nathan Bates, pitched 3.1 innings, giving up only six hits. All three Rebel runs where charged to him. Ole Miss’ seventh hit in the game was allowed by Georgia State’s second pitcher, Garrett Ford.
The second game of this three-game series will be Saturday afternoon with first pitch set for 1:30 p.m.
 
–Adam Brown, Sports Editor of HottyToddy.com