No. 8 Diamond Rebels Remain Undefeated at Swayze

The No. 8 Ole Miss Rebels baseball team remains perfect through 13 games on the diamond of Swayze Field.
On a chilly Sunday afternoon, the Ole Miss Rebels baseball team completed the sweep over the Eastern Illinois Panthers by the score of 7-3.
The chill in the air didn’t affect the Rebels’ bats as they continued the hot streak at the plate. Chase Cockrell had a huge day against the Panthers as he recorded his first multi-home run game. Cockrell also delivered a pair of solo shots.
Sophomore Thomas Dillard is continuing to swing a hot bat with two doubles on the day that Swayze barely kept in the park.
James McArthur pitched well in his fourth consecutive start of the season. The Panthers got to the righty for three runs off of the long ball. McArthur gave up four hits, while striking out four batters and allowed one walk in 5.1 innings of work.
The Panthers took an early 1-0 lead off the bat of Dougie Parks in the second.
Ole Miss answered in the home frame with a double off the bat of Will Golsan. Cooper Johnson didn’t leave him stranded on second long as he brought him around on an RBI single. The Rebels got to the Panthers hurler with three back-to-back singles off the bats of Cockrell, Jacob Adams and Grae Kessinger to load the bases. Ryan Olenek stepped up to the dish and brought two more runs in on a single up the middle.
Eastern Illinois didn’t stay down long as they cut back into the lead with another dinger off the bat of Tyler Tesmond in the fourth. When the Rebels got to the dish, Cockrell pushed Ole Miss’ lead back out with a home run of his own to the right side of the field.
In the fifth, the Panthers scored their last run of the weekend off the bat of Jimmy Govern, which was the final home run for EIU.
Dillard came up in the fifth and delivered a double and later came around to score on a sacrifice fly by Golsan.
Ole Miss put the final score on the bored in the sixth inning as Cockrell belted his second bomb of the afternoon.
Coach Mike Bianco called on the arms of Will Stokes (1.2), Parker Caracci (1.0) and Dallas Woolfolk (1.0) to close the door on any chances of the Panthers getting back in the game.

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Game Two Wrap-Up
A marvelous pitching performance by Brady Feigl kept Eastern Illinois off the scoreboard in the second game. The Rebels added four runs to the board in game two of a doubleheader on Friday. 
Feigl toed the rubber for 7.0 scoreless frames against the Panthers. He recorded a career-high eight strikeouts and didn’t allow any free passes in the game.
The Rebels took a few innings to get the goose egg off the scoreboard. In the third, Ole Miss got the job done as Golsan delivered a two-out single to right with the bases loaded to plate two runs. Dillard tried to beat the throw in and score but was thrown out at home.
Ole Miss added two more runs in the game. First run came in the sixth as Cole Zabowski knocked in Dillard from third with an RBI groundout. The final run was scored in the eighth as Olenek and Dillard pushed a pair singles through the infield.

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Game One Wrap-Up
Ole Miss jumped out to an early 4-0 lead on Eastern Illinois in game one of the series.
In the first, the Rebels first three batters Kessinger, Olenek and Nick Fortes all got on base to open the game. Golsan and Cockrell added to the scoring fest with a pair of sacrifice flies. Ole Miss wasn’t done as Tyler Keenan hit a double to the gap that allowed Dillard to score all the way from first. 
In the second, Jacob Adams got his first home run of his career at Swayze Field in a solo shot. Dillard followed him with a dinger of his own in the third inning.
Rolison kept the Eastern Illinois batters at bay through the first three innings. Then in the fourth, the Panthers loaded the bases multiple times following a pair of singles and a double. Rolison shut the door on the Panthers chances of getting back in the game after scratching together two runs.
In the fifth, Ole Miss added the final run of the game off the bat of Cockrell who scored Dillard from third base.
After the shacky fourth inning, Rolison returned to the hill for three more scoreless innings. He recorded a career-high 7.0 innings. He struck out eight Panther batters allowing three walks and two runs.
Austin Miller came out of the bull pen to close out the game for the Rebels.
Ole Miss hits the road this week as they travel to take on Georgia State in a mid-week series tilt. First pitch is set for 5 p.m. on Tuesday. 

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