PEARL — Tyler Keenan had three hits and Will Golsan had two to lead five players with multiple hits Tuesday night in the No. 4 Ole Miss baseball team’s 11-3 victory against No. 12 Southern Mississippi at Trustmark Park.
Ole Miss (28-6) used a six-run second inning to beat Southern Miss (22-10) for the second time this season, and for the fourth time in a row. The Rebels also improved to 10-0 in mid-week games.
Houston Roth (5-0) struck out seven in a career-high 5 1/3 innings. Roth, a sophomore from Oxford, has struck out 19 in his last 14 1/3 innings.
After back-to-back singles from Cole Zabowski and Golsan to start the second inning, Keenan got the scoring started by singling through the right side to score Zabowski. Junior Chase Cockrell then sent an 0-2 breaking ball over the left-field wall for his fourth home run to give Ole Miss a 4-0 lead.
Thomas Dillard capped the six-run frame with a two-run single.
Dillard picked up this third RBI in the top of the fourth, scoring Nick Fortes all the way from first base. As the throw from the center fielder came casually back into second base, Fortes raced around third to score and put Ole Miss up 7-0.
Southern Miss put together a three-run rally in the fifth to trim the deficit to 7-3, but Ryan Olenek and Jacob Adams combined to throw out Hunter Slater trying to stretch an RBI double into a triple to end the inning.
Ole Miss added an insurance run in the eighth and three more in the ninth to run away for a 11-3 win.
Keenan, the two-time reigning SEC Freshman of the Week, had an RBI and two runs scored. Dillard, Zabowski, and Cockrell also had two hits.
With a single in the second inning, Ryan Olenek extended his hitting streak to 12 games. He has reached base safely in 14 games in a row.
Sophomore reliever Austin Miller went more than two innings for the third time this season, allowing no hits and striking out one in 2 1/3 innings.
Matthew Guidry and Matt Wallner led the Golden Eagles with two hits apiece.
Starting pitcher J.C. Keys (2-3) allowed six runs on five hits in 1 2/3 innings.
Ole Miss will take on No. 14 Vanderbilt this weekend in Nashville, Tennessee. The series finale Sunday will be on ESPNU.
Southern Miss will face Florida International this weekend in a three-game, Conference USA series. Game 1 will be at 6 p.m. Friday.
Alabama powers past Alabama-Birmingham
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Nine extra-base hits and three big innings powered the Alabama baseball team to a 12-3 victory against Alabama-Birmingham on Tuesday night at Sewell-Thomas Stadium.
With the win, the Crimson Tide moves to 21-13.
“It was a good win for us tonight,” Alabama coach Brad Bohannon said. “We had a lot of hard contact offensively. We weren’t that sharp early, but once Matt (Malkin) got that home run, we were on a roll. We have won three of our last four, and we have a big weekend coming up at Texas A&M that will be a great challenge.”
The Crimson Tide scored six runs in the fourth inning. Alabama added three-run frames in the second and fifth thanks to an 11-hit attack. It is the 14th time Alabama has had double-digit hits. Nine of them were for extra bases to set a new season-high mark. Seven of them were doubles, which also was a season high.
Twelve of the 13 Alabama batters reached base safely, including all nine starters. Eight of the nine starters had at least one hit. Junior Matt Malkin went 3-for-6 with two doubles and a home run. Malkin added a season-high six RBIs, had three runs, and drew a walk.
Junior Cobie Vance went 2-for-4 with a home run, two RBIs, and a run scored.
Senior Tyler Adams (2-0) earned his second win of the season, throwing one inning of scoreless baseball in his relief effort. Junior Mason Duke, sophomore Davis Vainer, freshman Brady Greene, and redshirt sophomore Connor Stutts combined to allow two hits in the final four scoreless frames. The bullpen’s clean showing was the 15th time Alabama relievers haven’t allowed a run in a game.
UAB used two singles and a groundout to begin the second inning. The Blazers then recorded a two-run single to take a 2-0 lead. Alabama answered in the home half of the frame. Junior Chandler Taylor drew a leadoff walk and junior Kyle Kaufman reached on an error. One out later, Malkin hit a three-run shot to left field to make it 3-2.
The Blazers added a run in the fourth to tie the game at 3. Back-to-back one-out singles gave UAB two runners before a balk put both men in scoring position. A walk loaded the bases before a sacrifice fly brought in the tying run.
Alabama put the game away in the fourth and added three more runs in the fifth.
Alabama will travel to College Station, Texas, to take on Texas A&M. Game 1 of the three-game, Southeastern Conference weekend series will be at 8 p.m. Thursday (ESPNU). The final two games will be at 6:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday. The games will be broadcast on SEC Network+.
Mississippi State will take on Alabama State
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — The Mississippi State baseball team (17-16) will try to build momentum from its biggest wins of the season at 6 tonight when it takes on Alabama State (17-13) at Riverwalk Stadium, the home of the Tampa Bay Rays Double-A affiliate Montgomery Biscuits.
MSU went 3-1 last week at home. It kicked the week off with a victory against Southern and then added two victories against then-No. 3 Ole Miss.
Juniors Luke Alexander and Jake Mangum highlighted the week with a strong Sunday showing, as Alexander delivered a two-run walk-off home run in the bottom of the 11th inning and Mangum went 5-for-5 with four runs scored and an RBI.
Tonight’s game is the first meeting between MSU and Alabama State.
Two Southern Mississippi players named to midseason watch list for Golden Spikes Award
DURHAM, N.C. — Southern Mississippi right-hander Nick Sandlin and outfielder Matt Wallner were named Tuesday to the midseason watch list for the Golden Spikes Award, which is awarded to the top amateur baseball player in the country.
Presented in partnership with the Rod Dedeaux Foundation, the 41st Golden Spikes Award will be presented June 28 in Los Angeles.
The list features 40 of the nation’s top amateur players from the college ranks. The Golden Spikes Award Advisory Board will continue to maintain a rolling list of athletes, allowing players to play themselves into consideration for the award before announcing the semifinalists May 21.
Sandlin is 4-0 with a 1.29 earned run average in eight appearances. He has allowed only 28 hits in 49 innings. He has struck out 75.
Wallner is hitting .355 with eight home runs, including three grand slams, and 39 RBIs, which leads Conference USA.
Thirteen NCAA conferences have at least one athlete on the list, including two NCAA Division II conferences in the Gulf South Conference and the Sunshine State Conference. The Southeastern Conference leads all conferences represented on the midseason watch list with nine athletes, while seven players represent the Atlantic Coast Conference and the Pacific-12 Conference.
Florida leads all schools with three athletes on the list. Arizona State, Kentucky, North Carolina State, Oregon State, and Southern Miss have two on the list.
On May 21, USA Baseball will announce the semifinalists for the award. That list will then be sent to a voting body of baseball media members, select professional baseball personnel, current USA Baseball staff, and the 40 previous winners of the award, representing a group of more than 200 voters. As part of this selection process, all voters will be asked to choose three players from the list of semifinalists. On June 6, USA Baseball will announce the finalists, and voting for the winner will begin that same day.
Fan voting will once again be a part of the Golden Spikes Award. Beginning with the semifinalist announcement and continuing through the finalist round voting deadline, fans from across the country will be able to vote for their favorite player on GoldenSpikesAward.com.
The winner of the 41st Golden Spikes Award will be named Thursday, June 28, at a presentation in Los Angeles. The finalists and their families will be honored at the Rod Dedeaux Foundation Award Dinner that evening at Jonathan Club in downtown Los Angeles.
Last year, Louisville’s Brendan McKay took home the award.
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