No. 8 Ole Miss Outlasts Murray State in a Nail-Biter at Swayze

No. 8 Ole Miss Rebels found themselves in a nine-inning nail-biter with the Murray State Racers on Tuesday night. Thomas Dillard scored from third base on a wild pitch to secure a 7-6 win.
Dillard led off the bottom of the the ninth with a base knock followed by back-to-back walks to Cooper Johnson and Tyler Keenan. On a 1-1 count, Dillard slid into home under the tag to give the Rebels their best start in a decade.
Ole Miss’ (8-0) starter Houston Roth got out to a rocky start in the first inning as he allowed four runs to score. Murray State’s Davis Sims also hit a three-run bomb in the inning.
Roth soon settled in and was dominant through the next four frames only giving up one hit while facing the minimum batters allowed per inning. He finished the night giving up four runs on five hits while striking out six Racers and allowing two free passes in five innings of work.
The Rebels had trouble getting going against the Racer’s starter Luke Brown, who was masterful on the bump through the first three innings. In the fourth inning, Ole Miss was able to get on the score board as Dillard scored from second base on a single by Cole Zabowski.
Ole Miss would take their first lead of the game in the fifth inning by plating four runs. Three runs came in off of the base-clearing double by Dillard. Chase Cockrell came to the plate and ensured that the game wouldn’t remain tied by delivering a single to bring Dillard around.
Murray State knotted the game back up at five runs apiece in the seventh and then in the eighth, the Racers added a go-ahead run.
The Rebels faced adversity after falling behind late in the game for the first time this season. In previous games, Ole Miss had control of the game by the bottom of the sixth inning. Coach Mike Bianco’s club answered the bell in the eighth, as Ryan Olenek delivered an RBI single.
Ole Miss called on the arms of Austin Miller (1.0), Will Ethridge (1.1), Jordan Fowler (0.1) and Parker Caracci (1.1) to try and shut the door on the Racers chances of a win.
The Rebels return to the diamond on Friday as they travel out to California for a three-game series against Long Beach State. First pitch is set for 8 p.m. 

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Adam Brown is the sports editor of HottyToddy.com. He can be reached at adam.brown@hottytoddy.com.