Diamond Rebels Win Nail Biter at South Carolina, 6-5 in Extra Innings

Chase Cockrell. Photo by Steven Gagliano

The No. 3 Ole Miss diamond Rebels got back to winning ways Sunday defeating South Carolina 6-5 in 10 innings.

Ole Miss (36-13, 13-11 SEC) used the long ball to pull in a victory on the road from the Gamecocks. A total of four home runs were hit by the Rebels in the game as Chase Cockrell belted out two and Thomas Dillard and Nick Fortes each added one of their own.
Dillard crushed a home run that ended up out of Founders Park to open the second inning, and Cockrell followed suit with his first home run of the day off the batter’s eye in straightaway center. South Carolina tied it back up in the third when Stokes stroked a two-RBI single.
Ole Miss regained the lead on a solo homer by Fortes in the fifth, only to see South Carolina tie it back up in the bottom half. The Gamecocks took their turn in the home run derby, knocking two solo shots in the sixth to take the lead.
The Rebels chipped their way back from the deficit on a Cole Zabowski sacrifice fly in the seventh and Cockrell’s second home run in the eighth, giving him two multi-homer games on the year.
After a leadoff single by Will Golsan in the 10th, the Rebel third baseman Tyler Keenan almost joined in on the home run derby by sending a ball to the top of the wall in right field to call it a double. Golsan came in to score on a sacrifice fly by Cockrell.
Ole Miss’ closer was called on to pitch in the seventh. He turned in four scoreless innings, allowing only four hits and no walks, retiring four Gamecock batters to strike out along the way, including USC’s Madison Stokes on a full-count pitch to end the game.
The Rebels will return to action on Thursday as they play host to Auburn in a three-game series tilt. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. on ESPNU.

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