No. 4 Diamond Rebels Rally Late to Defeat No. 14 Southern Miss

Thomas Dillard. Photo by Steven Gagliano

The No. 4 Ole Miss Rebels had a three-run bomb off the bat of sophomore Thomas Dillard to secure a 7-6 victory over their in-state rival No.14 Southern Miss.

Southern Miss came into Swayze with a red-hot offense that put up five quick runs on the scoreboard lead by Hunter Slater. In the first inning, the Golden Eagles plated four of their runs with three coming off the bat of Slater, including a home run to left center field.
Ole Miss’ (23-3) starter Jordan Fowler was knocked around and only worked a 0.1 of an inning. Coach Mike Bianco brought Houston Roth in from the bullpen to try to limit the damage caused by Southern Miss.
Slater delivered another solo shot in the third to right field that extended the Golden Eagles lead to 5-0.
The Rebels offense came to life with a two-out rally in the bottom of the fourth, as Cole Zabowski reached on a fielder’s choice before Tyler Keenan belted a single into right, but Chase Cockrell was the real hero of the inning, bringing everybody home on a two-RBI double just over the first baseman. Cockrell came around to score on a pair of wild pitches, and Southern Miss’ lead was cut to two.
Roth kept USM at bay in 5.0 innings of work only allowing the solo home run in third, while striking out seven Golden Eagle batters. Greer Holston came in as relief in the sixth inning. The sophomore pitched an inning and two-thirds of scoreless baseball with three strikeouts to pick up the win.
In the seventh, the Rebels took the lead, beginning with a single off the bat of Jacob Adams, a Grae Kessinger walk and a Ryan Olenek bunt. The bases were full with nobody down. Nick Fortes plated one on a fielder’s choice, but Dillard brought them all home with a three-run, no-doubter home run to left field.
Dallas Woolfolk came into the game in the eighth and went an inning, only allowing one hit to USM. Parker Caracci entered the game in the ninth with a two-run advantage.
Southern Miss got the leadoff runner on base with a single to Olenek who overthrew the first baseman and cut the Rebel lead to one. Another single plus a walk put two on with two out for the Golden Eagles.
Slater toyed with his third home run of the night in the ninth, but Golsan caught the ball at the wall for the final out of the game. Caracci picked up his fourth save of the season.
Ole Miss returns to the diamond Thursday as they play host to No. 5 Arkansas in a three-game series tilt. First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m.

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