Simply super|[6/6/05]
Published 12:00 am Monday, June 6, 2005
OXFORD – To pile or not to pile? That was the only question surrounding the Ole Miss Rebels in the waning seconds of their 20-5 shellacking of Oklahoma in the NCAA Regionals on Sunday.
The game had been decided for seven innings and winning in such fashion may have called for a subdued celebration.
But the more the Rebels talked about it in the dugout, the more they wanted to dogpile. Rebel fans had not seen such a thing on the baseball diamond in more than 30 years, and this year’s team would not disappoint.
“This hadn’t happened in so long, we had to do it,” said former Vicksburg High standout Justin Henry, who had three hits and drove in two runs.
When the final out was made – a lazy fly ball to centerfield – the entire dugout emptied onto the infield celebrating Ole Miss’ first regional-clinching victory in school history. Everyone piled on except one.
“I didn’t want anyone to get hurt,” said junior Brian Pettway, the Rebels’ quiet slugger who jogged toward the pile before standing alongside it watching the playful melee. “There were people jumping everywhere, cleats flying.”
Pettway said he would save his dog piling for the upcoming weekend when Ole Miss tries to earn its first trip to the College World Series since 1972.
Ole Miss will play the winner of tonight’s Arkansas-Texas game in Oxford for a best-of-three series next weekend. The winner will then advance to Omaha, Neb., for the eight-team College World Series.
“We don’t care who we play,” said Ole Miss junior Stephen Head, who earned all-Region honors and went 3-for-4 in the win over Oklahoma. “We feel like we can beat anyone in the country.”
Head and the Rebels put Oklahoma away early on Sunday. The Sooners (35-26) played a four-hour elimination game Sunday afternoon – an 11-10 win over Maine in sweltering afternoon heat – then came back an hour later to face the Rebels.
After two innings, the Rebels held a 7-1 lead and the rout was on. Eleven Ole Miss players had hits, every position player except one saw action and the team battered what was left of the Sooners’ pitching staff for 25 hits.
“As far as the game went, it’s pretty easy to evaluate,” interim Oklahoma head coach Sunny Golloway said. “They had pitching left and they sure swung the bat well. They are a team that deserves to move on.”
The Sooners used four pitchers to hold off Maine in the opening game, then were forced to use five in the Ole Miss loss. Starter P.J. Sandoval pitched 5 1/3 innings and allowed nine runs on 11 hits.
“We got off to such a fast start and that takes the pressure of the pitchers,” said winner Eric Fowler, who pitched seven innings and allowed three runs. “As pitchers, you have to like that.”
Fowler was the latest Rebel hurler to shine in the regionals. Mark Holliman pitched a complete game shutout on Friday night and Matt Maloney and Head combined to allow only three runs on Saturday in the team’s first win over the Sooners.
Ole Miss backed its pitchers up by averaging nearly 11 runs a game in the three-game weekend tournament, but nothing compared to Sunday.
Holding a 9-2 lead going into the top of the seventh – Ole Miss (47-18) was the visiting team because of a coin flip – the Rebels scored six runs in the seventh and four more in the eighth.
Pettway belted his 20th home run of the season on a 3-0 count in the top of the eighth inning as Ole Miss built a 19-3 lead.
Oklahoma scored two runs in the bottom of the eighth on Chuckie Caufield’s second home run of the night. The Rebels added one more run in the top of the ninth and Anthony Cupps shut the door.
“This was a special day for Ole Miss baseball,” Ole Miss coach Mike Bianco said. “This is a day many have been waiting to happen here for a long time. I was proud of how well we played. Fatigue or no fatigue, we played an excellent ballgame.
“But we still have work to do.”
Bianco, who was an assistant coach at LSU in 1997 when the Tigers played in the College World Series will be coaching in his first Super Regional. The NCAA will release the schedule for the Super Regionals on Tuesday, but because of their No. 5 national seed, the Rebels are guaranteed to host.
It didn’t hurt that the tournament crowd for the three days was the third highest of any regional in the nation.
“We might get (today) off, but I don’t know,” Henry said. “We have to get back to work, have a good week of practice and get ready for next weekend. We’ve played Arkansas before and know they’ve been to Omaha and it seems like Texas goes there every year. We just have to get ready to play.”