Ole Miss Battles Back to Secure Spot in SEC Championship Game

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

Photo courtesy of Ole Miss Athletics.

The No. 7 seeded Ole Miss baseball team is headed back to the SEC championship Sunday for the second straight season after a 5-3 victory over No. 3 seeded Georgia.

Ole Miss (38-24) found magic in a bottle this week in Hoover as they climbed back from a two-run deficit in the second inning off the bat of Mason Meadows.

In the third inning, Ole Miss got on the scoreboard as Anthony Servideo got aboard on a single, then stole second and advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt by Jacob Adams. Thomas Dillard brought Servideo in on a RBI groundout.

Ole Miss took the lead in the fourth as Cole Zabowski got on base along with Ryan Olenek. Freshman Kevin Graham continued his hot streak of the week with an RBI base knock. Olenek came home on a RBI groundout off the barrel of Cooper Johnson.

The Rebels’ hurler Houston Roth dominated on the mound. The Oxford native only allowed three runs on four hits through 4.2 innings of work. Roth struck out four Bulldog sluggers on four free passes.

Georgia’s starter Emerson Hancock worked 3.2 innings as he surrendered three runs on six hits while striking out three Rebels.

Georgia scored their third run in the top of the fifth on a single to left.

Ole Miss did not wait long to respond at the top of the lineup when Dillard got on first. Grae Kessinger followed up with a two run bomb to left.

Coach Mike Bianco called on the arm of Max Cioffi to keep the Bulldogs at bay for 1.2 innings of work.

In the seventh, Connor Green made an appearance followed up by an eighth pitch showing for Kaleb Hill. The Rebels then brought Parker Caracci to the bump to record the save. Caracci retired Georgia in the final four outs.

Ole Miss will return to the diamond on Sunday and play the winner of LSU and Vanderbilt. First pitch for the championship will be at 2 p.m. on ESPN2.