Rebels Win Game Two

Austin Knight Delivers Key Hit

Adam Brown, Sports Editor, HottyToddy.com
adam.brown@hottytoddy.com

Photo by Peyton Spear

The Ole Miss Rebels clinched the series against the Rhode Island Rams on Saturday, when Austin Knight hit the game-winning single to give the Rebels the 1-0 victory.

Knight, who was brought in to pinch hit for Will Jamison, delivered a hard-line drive single to left center out of the center fielder’s reach.  The hit drove in Cameron Dishon who was a pinch runner for the designated hitter Will Allen, from third base .

No. 8 Ole Miss (6-0) battled against the Rhode Island Rams in a tough fought pitchers dual for eight and a-half innings.

Junior Mike Mayers pitched six brilliant innings, matching the Rams’ starter, senior Sean Furney, who pitched a total of eight innings.  Freshman Matt Denny came in to the game to relieve Mayers in the seventh inning.  Denny pitched one and one-third innings,  then was relieved by red-shirt senior Tanner Bailey, who pitched for a single inning.  Senior Brett Huber finished the game, pitching two-thirds of an inning.

The Rhode Island Rams (0-5) had the bases loaded during the sixth and eighth innings.  In the sixth inning, Mayers allowed two walks, a single to center, a strike out and the second ground out ended the scoring threat.  In the top of the eighth, Denny gave up a single to right, a sacrifice bunt moving the player to second which led to Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco replacing Denny with Bailey.  Bailey struck out the first batter he faced before giving up back-to-back walks.  With bases loaded, Bailey got the Rams’ batter to ground out to the first baseman ending the second scoring threat.

Coach Bianco was pleased with the way the Rebels performed in today’s game.

“One of the keys to winning these games and being a special team is being able to make pitches when the game is on the line.  Denny did that, and of course (Tanner) Bailey, (Brett) Huber, and Mike (Mayers).  Today was a great day, and for Austin (Knight) to come up and get a big hit.  I’m proud of him.  It couldn’t happen to a better kid,” Bianco said.

Pitch time for the final game of this series is set for 1:30 P.M. tomorrow.