Rolison Dominates on the Mound as Rebels Take Game One From Auburn

Will Golsan. Photo by Steven Gagliano

The No. 5 Ole Miss Rebels took game one from No. 16 Auburn on Thursday night, winning 5-4 with the use of the long ball and a dominant display of pitching from the Rebels’ ace, Ryan Rolison.

Ole Miss (37-13, 14-11 SEC) jumped on the board first in the bottom of the second inning as Cole Zabowski reached on a one-out single. Then senior captain Will Golsan sent a ball out to the fans in left field to give the Rebels a 2-0 advantage, and they never looked back.
Rolison kept the Tiger bats silenced most of the night to pick up his seventh win of the season. He worked 6.1 innings and only gave up one run until he left in the seventh inning. He officially was credited with three runs, two earned on five hits.
Fortes would follow up Golsan’s homer with a shot of his own, a solo blast over the left-center wall to put the Rebels up 3-0 after the third inning. Following a Thomas Dillard single an inning later, Tyler Keenan upped the lead by one on an RBI double, his lone hit of the game, to give Ole Miss a four-run advantage after four complete.
Dillard and Zabowski each also managed multi-hit games, both going 2-for-4 at the plate with a combined four singles. Dillard upped his team-best stolen base lead to 15, moving him to fourth in the league in that category.
Junior Ryan Olenek saw his 23-game hitting streak come to an end against the Tigers on Thursday. His streak was tied for third-best all-time as a Rebel and second-best in the SEC this season.
Auburn did not stay silenced at the plate all night. In the sixth inning, the Tigers scratched for one run on a solo shot. They then would add three more in the seventh to close out the scoring.
Coach Mike Bianco called on Houston Roth in the seventh, who recorded an out and allowed a run on a wild pitch and two more to cross on an error by shortstop Grae Kessinger.
Ole Miss then turned to its closer Parker Caracci, who would go the distance and lock down the victory. In his 2.1 innings of work he only allowed one hit and no runs and struck out four batters to pick up his ninth save of the year.
The Rebels and Tigers will take the diamond again tonight as Brady Feigl will go up against Auburn’s ace Casey Mize. First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m. on the SECNetwork+.

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