No. 8 Diamond Rebs Remain Perfect at Swayze

Ryan Olenek, Photo by Steven Gagliano

The No. 8 Ole Miss Rebels baseball team used some late-inning magic to roll past the Arkansas Little Rock Trojans by the score of 10-2 Wednesday night.

In the bottom of the seventh, the Rebels (12-1) hung four runs on the board with two outs and then in the eighth, Ole Miss added four more for good measure. The two big innings of offense for the Rebels broke a game open that before was knotted up at a 2-2 tie.
An early pitchers’ duel was put to rest in the home half of the third inning as the Rebels plated two runs off the bats of Grae Kessinger and Ryan Olenek. Kessinger’s groundout to third base brought in Michael Fitzsimmons into score. Olenek followed with an RBI double to left field that plated Anthony Servideo.
Freshman southpaw Jordan Fowler was masterful on the bump in his first collegiate start. Fowler scattered four hits and carved up seven strikeouts in five scoreless frames.
The Trojans were able to get the goose egg off the board as Greer Holston to relieve Fowler in the sixth. Holston kept the Trojans’ batters guessing by striking out two hitters. Little Rock did string together a one-out base knock prior to the two-run shot to left field by Matt Merino.
In the seventh, Tyler Keenan led off with a single up the middle. Two batters later, Servideo was given a free pass to first base followed by a fielder’s choice to Kessinger that Servideo got out on and Keenan scored on an error by the second baseman. Olenek followed with a walk, and Nick Fortes delivered a two-out single to left field that plated Kessinger and Olenek. Thomas Dillard continued the frame with a single back up the middle advancing Fortes to second. Will Golsan brought Fortes in to score.
Parker Caracci came into the game for Houston in the seventh. He worked two innings and picked up the win, retiring five batters to strikeouts and only one hit. Caracci moves to 2-0 on the season.
This weekend Ole Miss will return to Swayze Field as they play host to Eastern Illinois in a three-game series tilt starting with a double dip on Friday afternoon at 3 p.m.

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