2 weeks Ago
The No.11 Ole Miss Rebels took a crushing 7-2 loss to the South Carolina Gamecocks who have officially claimed their first SEC series victory of the season. The Instant Takeaways: To open the game it looked like the Rebels offense was going to be swinging all day after a lead off home run from Hayden Federico to open the game.
However, this was quickly disproven as following the homer Gamecocks starter Jake McCoy settled in nicely as he held it down on the mound to open up the game not allowing many baserunners, and those who did reach base did not advance. The Rebels, on the other hand, had to dish into the bullpen early as starter Riley Maddox allowed 4 early runs (3 ER) forcing the Rebels to turn to Brayden Jones in the third inning. Maddox's final line for the day was 2.
1 IP, 4 hits, 4 runs, 3 strikeouts, 3 walks, 3 wild pitches in 68 total pitches. Entering the middle third of the game, the Rebels were looking for any spark of offense. However, McCoy continued to shut down Ole Miss as the Rebels could not get anything to go their way offensively.
Defensively for Ole Miss, Jones was holding it down on the bump as he finished a solid outing going 2.0+ IP, allowing just one base runner on a single which knocked him out of the game. However, Will Hooks, who entered the game for Jones, was not so lucky as he allowed a towering solo homer run to extend the Gamecocks lead to 5-1.
The Ole Miss offense finally found a little more life in the final third of the game as they knocked knocked out McCoy after 6.1 IP. He allowed just 3 hits and 3 walks while making the Rebels lineup look lost; recording 7 strikeouts.
The Rebels then finally plated their first run since the first batter of the game as Judd Utermark roped a single into left field to score Federico; making it a 5-2 game. He brought the Rebels within striking distance as Mitchell Sanford stepped up to the dish representing the tying run in the eighth. But the Rebels strong inning offensively ended there as Sanford's hard hit line drive did not have enough to get down or get out as right fielder Ethan Petry reeled it in to get the Gamecocks out of the innings Ole Miss’ shaky pitching continued as they quickly allowed South Carolina to throw across a pair in the bottom part of the eighth; extending the Gamecocks lead to 7-2 for some much needed insurance.
The Rebels offense was out of luck in the ninth as well as they went down in order to conclude the game and South Carolina held on for the 7-2 victory Overall The Rebels’ offense was not where it has been recently and South Carolina was firing on all cylinders keeping the Rebels offense down and lighting up Ole Miss’ pitching staff to produce some timely runs. This loss pushes the Rebels’ record to 27-12 on the year and 9-8 in the conference as South Carolina moves to 23-17 on the season and 4-13 in SEC play. The Rebels and Gamecocks will conclude the series on Saturday as Ole Miss looks to avoid the sweep.
South Carolina looks to make a statement in the first SEC series win of the year by completing the sweep..
