Rebels Take Series from Panthers

Ole Miss put on an offensive display Saturday afternoon at Swayze Field against the Georgia State Panthers by winning the game 9-1 and taking the series.
As a club, Ole Miss (6-0) battle back from a one run deficit to string nine runs together off of a total of 17 hits.
The Rebels fell behind for the first time this season in a game  in the top of the second after a lead off double by the Panthers hitter Nic Wilson. Two batters later Triplett hit an RBI single to bring Wilson in from third base.
Sophomore Christian Trent (2-0) worked a total of seven innings, only giving up one run on a total of three hits. Trent struck out a total of six of GSU’s batters that he faced on the day.
“Christian (Trent) was terrific,” Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco said. “He pitched very similar to how Chris (Ellis) did last night. Just a great mix of three pitches and it really kept them off balance. He was super dominant. It was a great performance and another great defensive game. (Josh) Laxer was tremendous. He pitched as well as he ever has here. He was really dominant today.”
Ole Miss would then leave runners on bases in the next two frames they were up to bat.  In the bottom of the second the Rebels could not get the key hit on Georgia State’s starter having runners on second and third with two outs.
The Rebels left Austin Anderson stranded at third base in the bottom of the third. Then in the bottom of the fourth, Colby Bortles leads off the frame with a double and the next three batters could not advance him home.
After going through the batting order and seeing the pitches, the Rebels were able to get on top of the ball in the fifth inning. Auston Bousfield led the inning off with a first pitch home run into the Ole Miss bullpen.  Will Allen and Preston Overbey followed up with back-to-back singles before Sikes Orvis hit a three-run bomb into the student section out in right field.
Orvis went two-for-four at the plate on the day with one run scored and a total of four RBI’s.
The Rebels finished their scoring by putting runs on the board in the sixth inning by hanging up the last four runs.
Coach Bianco called on the arm of Josh Laxer to come in and close out the game for the Rebels.  Laxer pitched two innings, giving up only one hit, striking out three batters and only allowing one man to walk.
Georgia State’s senior starter Andrew Fessier (0-1) gave the Ole Miss hitters some trouble in his first three-innings of work. Fessier ended his day by working 4.1 innings, giving up four runs off of nine hits.
Ole Miss will go for the sweep against the Panthers on Sunday afternoon at Swayze Field.  First pitch will be thrown at 1:30 p.m.
— Adam Brown, Sports Editor of HottyToddy.com