OXFORD — The No. 15 Ole Miss baseball team used another dominant pitching performance to beat Winthrop 3-1 on Sunday to complete a three-game sweep of the weekend series.
The win allowed Ole Miss (3-0) to sweep its opening series for the third-consecutive year, and win its opening series for the seventh-consecutive year.
James McArthur allowed four hits in five innings in his first start. He struck out seven. He allowed an unearned run before giving way to Jordan Fowler, who struck out three en route to his first win. He allowed one hit. Will Ethridge and Dallas Woolfolk (two strikeouts) closed the victory.
Ole Miss had only three hits. Grae Kessinger’s two-run single in the seventh proved to be the difference. With two runners in scoring position, Kessinger singled to left to score Tim Elko from third base. Third base coach Mike Clement waved Jacob Adams home and Adams was able to get his hand around the foot of the catcher to account for the final score.
Adams, who made his first start of the season at second base, also had his first hit earlier in the inning.
In the fourth, former New Hope High School standout Will Golsan (0-for-2, two walks) walked and scored on Ryan Olenek’s sacrifice fly.
Ole Miss will play host to Memphis at 4 p.m. Tuesday.
n Alabama 12, Valparaiso 6: At Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Keith Holcombe went 4-for-4 and finished a double shy of the cycle Sunday to lead the Alabama baseball team to its sweep of Valparaiso at Sewell-Thomas Stadium.
“For nine innings we really focused and competed well,” Alabama coach Brad Bohannon said. “The other two days there were some periods of time where we were either trying to do too much or we lost focus. We put together nine innings of competitive at-bats. We’ve got some guys who can hit, I think we can be a good offensive group.”
Holcombe also had a walk and a team-high three RBIs and four runs scored — both of which are new career-high marks. Four other players finished with multi-hit games, including freshman catcher Sam Praytor, who went 3-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored. Eight of the nine Alabama starters finished with at least one hit. All nine reached base.
The Crimson Tide bullpen dominated after an early exit from junior starting pitcher Sam Gardner. Sophomore Davis Vainer and freshman Brock Guffey working the final 5 1/3 innings and allowed two hits and struck out seven.
Vainer (1-0) tied a career high by throwing 3 2/3 innings. He allowed two hits and a walk and struck out four. Guffey followed with 1 2/3 innings of no-hit ball. He struck out three for the save.
“One of the stories the last few days is the bullpen,” Bohannon added. “Davis (Vainer) and Brock (Guffey) today, along with Kyle (Cameron) and Dylan (Duarte) yesterday, were outstanding. Pitching out of the bullpen is hard, and all four of those guys came in and pounded the strike zone with multiple pitches. If we can pitch out of the bullpen like that consistently, we can put ourselves in a position to be very successful.”
Alabama will play host to Middle Tennessee State at 3 p.m. Tuesday. Redshirt freshman left-hander Garret Rukes will start for Alabama.
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