OXFORD, Miss. — The No. 6 Ole Miss baseball team evened the series against the No. 5 Tennessee Volunteers with an 8-5, win Saturday afternoon at Swayze Field.
The Rebels were led by starting pitcher Riley Maddox who went five strong innings, striking out five Volunteer hitters.
Tennessee struck first thanks to a solo shot in the first inning off the bat of Gavin Kilen.
Ole Miss responded with three runs of their own in the bottom half of inning number one. Luke Hill and Mitchell Sanford both reached via walks.
Hill swiped second and third base to advance into scoring position. Sanford followed suit stealing second for the third stolen base of the inning.
Will Furniss put together a solid at-bat driving in Hill from third with an RBI groundout.
One batter later, Ryan Moerman stepped to the plate and lace a double down the left field line to score Sanford, making it 2-1, Ole Miss.
Hayden Federico singled up the middle to score Moerman, pushing the Rebel lead to 3-1. In total Ole Miss tallied three runs off two hits, stealing five bases in the first inning.
The Volunteers made it 3-2, in the second after Levi Clark drove one to dead center for the second Tennessee homer of the game.
Ole Miss then got one back in the bottom half with a solo home run from Austin Fawley to left. It marked Fawley’s second home run in the series and eighth on the season. Ole Miss would lead 4-2, after two.
The Rebels added one to their lead in the fourth after Hayden Federico stole home. It marked the eighth stolen base of the game by the Rebels and fourth from Federico.
Riley Maddox settled in on the mound for Ole Miss, putting up scoreless frames in the third, fourth and fifth. Maddox’s line ended after five complete. He surrendered just two runs off three hits, striking out five Tennessee hitters.
Luke Hill led off the fifth inning with a solo blast to left center. His seventh home run of the season made it 6-2, Ole Miss through five
Ryne Rodriguez the be first out of the pen for Ole Miss. Tennessee cut the deficit to 6-4, after Dalton Bargo hit the third Tennessee home run of the game to right center for a two-run shot.
Will McCausland entered to relieve Rodriguez with two outs in the sixth and forced a flyout to end the Volunteer threat.
The Rebels evened the inning, finding two runs of their own in the bottom half. Federico would draw his second walk of the contest to lead off the inning.
Judd Utermark reached on a throwing error and Austin Fawley delivered his second hit of the game to score Federico.
Isaac Humphrey roped a single to right to score Utermark, making it 8-4, Rebels after six.
Tennessee created more traffic loading the bases in the seventh. McCausland got a ground ball to set up a 5-4-3 double play, as Tennessee plated the runner from third.
The Volunteers got just one as Ole Miss would lead by three after seven.
McCausland worked into the eighth but was relieved after two Volunteers reached base.
Connor Spencer entered for Ole Miss and delivered a massive punchout to leave the bases loaded, keeping Tennessee scoreless in the eighth.
Spencer slammed the door in the ninth picking up his third save of the season. Riley Maddox (4-2) picked up the win for Ole Miss. Marcus Phillips (2-2) suffered the loss for Tennessee.
The Rebels (27-8, 9-5 SEC) and Volunteers (30-5, 9-4 SEC) will play the rubber match of the series tomorrow afternoon with first pitch set for 2 p.m. on SEC Network.
Information from Ole Miss Sports is included in this story.
