No. 3 Ole Miss Defeats Alcorn State

By Adam Brown
Sports Editor
adam.brown@hottytoddy.com

No. 3 Ole Miss’ offense came to life in the sixth inning to propel the Rebels to the season sweep of the Alcorn State Braves with an 8-1 win on Tuesday.

Ole Miss (23-6, 7-2 SEC) sent 11 sluggers to the plate in the sixth inning to secure the win over the Braves in the final tune-up prior to playing No.2 Arkansas this weekend.

The Rebels’ starter Drew McDaniel did not surrender a hit until the third inning to the Alcorn State Braves. McDaniel worked four innings with two hits and a run. He struck out four batters and allowed two hits. 

The Braves jumped on the scoreboard first in the third after two base rips.

The Rebels center fielder, TJ McCants went 3-for-3 at the dish with an RBI. Shortstop Jacob Gonzalez led the team going 3-for-4 with two runs scored an RBI and a walk.

“Just swing at some good pitches and trying to be aggressive in the count,” Gonzalez said. “My whole thing is not to strike out, and if you are hitting the ball early in the count you are not going to strike out very often.”

Head coach Mike Bianco brought in Jackson Kimbrell into the game in the fifth inning. Kimbrell (3-0) tossed two complete frames only allowed one hit while he struck out four Alcorn State batters.

In the final three innings, Braden Forsyth, Austin Miller and Wes Burton each threw a frame and held Alcorn State off the scoreboard.

Ole Miss found out on Tuesday that captain Tim Elko tore his ACL against North Alabama on Monday.

Ole Miss steps back into conference action this weekend as they host No.2 Arkansas in a three-game series at Swayze. The Rebels and the Razorbacks have not met on the diamond since the 2019 Fayetteville Super Regionals. The first pitch is set for Friday at 6 p.m. on SEC Network.