No. 3 Diamond Rebels Cruise Past Memphis

Will Golsan. Photo by Steven Gagliano

The cold night air from the Mississippi River banks didn’t damper the offensive production  No. 3 Ole Miss displayed at AutoZone Park in a 12-0 route over Memphis Wednesday night.

The diamond Rebels (26-4) have matched its best 30-game start in school history set back in 2004.
Thomas Dillard came in to score the first run of the ballgame on a wild pitch in the second inning. The sophomore followed it up with a base-clearing, two-RBI triple in the third inning, and the Rebels took a 3-0 lead.
Shortstop Grae Kessinger came through in the fourth with an RBI up the middle that brought the fourth run in to score. Then in the fifth, Will Golsan smashed a triple to right field to score another run. Golsan didn’t stay at third long as Cole Zabowski drove him on in, giving the Rebels a 6-0 lead.
In the seventh, the game became out of reach for the Tigers. Nick Fortes slapped an infield single deep in the hole to the Memphis shortstop with the bases loaded for the Rebels’ seventh run, setting the table for Dillard’s base-clearing single. Zabowski notched his second RBI of the game, scoring Dillard on a fielder’s choice moments later. Cooper Johnson added the icing on the cake in the ninth, scoring Michael Fitzsimmons on a sacrifice fly to make it an even dozen runs.
Ole Miss’ starter Houston Roth was strong working 4.1 innings in his sixth start of the season allowing no runs on three hits while striking out five Memphis sluggers. Max Cioffi took the ball from Roth in the fifth and gave up one hit, but that’s all the Tigers managed for the remainder of the night.
Cioffi allowed just the one baserunner in 1.2 innings to keep his perfect ERA in tact before Jordan Fowler came in for some work. Fowler went an inning, also allowing just one baserunner on a walk before retiring Memphis in the seventh. Connor Green took the eighth, retiring the Tigers in order to preserve his 0.00 ERA. Austin Miller followed suit in the ninth, going 1-2-3 to send the Rebels home with the staff shutout. The Rebel staff combined to go nine scoreless innings, allowing just four hits and walking five while striking out nine.
This weekend, the Rebels remain on the road as they travel down to Starkville for a three-game SEC series tilt with in-state rival Mississippi State. First pitch is slated for Friday at 6:30 p.m.

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