No. 13 Ole Miss Swept by No. 3 Florida

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

The No. 3 Florida Gators completed the sweep over the No. 13 Ole Miss Rebels 7-4 on Sunday at Swayze.

Florida (22-4, 5-1 SEC) hit a total of three home runs on the day and had a strong pitching performance.

Florida jumped out to an early lead for the third straight game as the pitcher Jac Caglianone delivered a home run deep into the student section in right field.

Ole Miss (15-9, 0-6 SEC) was able to work their way on base by walks in the home half of the first as Ethan Groff and Jacob Gonzalez got on but could not get home. 

The Rebels starter Xavier Rivas was able to hold the Florida sluggers at bay for the next two innings matching pitches with Cagilanone. 

Caglianone allowed three more Rebels to get on base through the third inning.

Florida got the bats going in the fourth with a moon shot to the fans in left by Luke Heyman. The Gators then got Micheal Robertson on base by an error on Groff in center. Robertson came in to score on a base knock by Cade Kurland.

Ole Miss got on the board in the fourth with two outs in the frame after back-to-back walks Gonzalez delivered a bases clearing double to left.

The Rebels ended Caglianone’s day on the mound who worked 3.2 innings allowing two runs on a hit with three strikeouts and eight walks.

In the sixth, coach Mike Bianco made the call to the bullpen for Mitch Murrell with two down and two on base to replace Rivas.

Florida scratched across their fourth run of the game on a RBI base knock by Cade Kurland.

Rivas finished the afternoon as he tossed 5.2 innings and surrendered four runs (two earned) on five hits while retiring four by strikeout and two walks.

After Cagilanone left the mound, the Gators used three other pitchers in Blake Purnell (0.1), Chris Arroyo (2.0) and Phillip Abner (1.0) all held the Rebels offense to one hit going into the eighth.

Florida tacked on another run on a second home run by Heyward in the afternoon and a walk before Bianco brought Mason Nicholas out of the pen. Florida’s leadoff hitter Kurland delivered the third home run of the afternoon.

Murrell worked 1.1 innings allowing two runs on two hits with two strikeouts and a walk.

Ole Miss scored two runs in the eighth after getting Calvin Harris and Peyton Chatagnier on to start the frame. 

Nicholas worked a scoreless inning before turning the ball over to Brayden Jones.

Ole Miss returns to the diamond on Tuesday as they travel down I-55 to take on the Southern Miss Golden Eagles in Pearl. The first pitch is set for 6 p.m.