PEARL — Freshman pitcher Jason Barber scored the winning run on a wild pitch Tuesday night to lift the Ole Miss baseball team to a 6-5 victory against No. 21 Southern Mississippi at Trustmark Park.
With Ole Miss out of position player, Barber, a former Oxford High School standout, was hit by a pitch in his first career at-bat. His run helped Ole Miss (17-12) complete a comeback that saw it rally from a four-run deficit. The Rebels tied the game in the bottom of the ninth when redshirt freshman Carson Klepzig scored on a passed ball to force extra
innings.
Ryan Olenek went 3-for-6 with a double as Ole Miss had 11 hits. Eight other Rebels, including former New Hope High School standout Will Golsan, had hits. Golsan also had an RBI.
The Ole Miss bullpen threw 7 1/3 innings without allowing an earned run. Dallas Woolfolk (2-1) collected the win by pitching two scoreless innings of
relief.
Leadoff hitter Dylan Burdeaux had four hits to lead Southern Miss (24-6), which had its six-game winning streak snapped. Hunter Slater and Taylor Braley had two hits. Braley also started on the mound and allowed three runs and five hits in five innings.
Southern Miss built a 4-0 advantage through four and a half innings. Storme Cooper’s RBI groundout made it 1-0. The Golden Eagles added two more runs in the fourth on a Cole Donaldson run-scoring single, while Cooper added a safety squeeze bunt to give the Golden Eagles a 3-0 advantage.
Hunter Slater increased the lead to 4-0 in the fifth as his double scored Mason Irby, who reached on a fielder’s choice. Slater, though, tried to stretch the hit into a triple and was thrown out to end the frame.
Golsan got Ole Miss on the board in the bottom of the fifth with an RBI single. After the Golden Eagles added a run in the sixth on a Burdeaux RBI single, the Rebels scored three runs on four hits off Braley and reliever Nick Sandlin.
Ole Miss will play host to Alabama at 6:30 p.m. Friday at Swayze Field. The teams will play at 3 p.m. Saturday following the football team’s spring game, the Grove Bowl, at 11 a.m. The series finale at 3 p.m. Sunday will be broadcast nationally on the SEC Network.
Southern Miss will open a three-game Conference USA series against FIU at 6 p.m. Friday.
n Troy 12, Alabama 11: At Troy, Alabama, the Crimson Tide and the Trojans traded leads eight times and were tied twice Tuesday night before the Trojans used a walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth to improve to 15-12, while the Crimson Tide slipped to 13-16.
The teams combined to score at least one run in eight innings, with each team scoring multiple runs in an inning on more than one occasion. The teams combined for 25 hits.
Hunter Alexander was 3-for-4 with two home runs, three RBIs, two runs scored, and a walk. Chandler Avant was 2-for-4 with a double, a run scored, and three RBIs. Cobie Vance was 2-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored, while Tanner DeVinny notched his fourth home run of the season.
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