Rebels rout UALR for series sweep

Published 11:30 am Monday, March 10, 2014

Auston Bousfield

Auston Bousfield

Ole Miss sweated out a low-scoring win in its series opener against Arkansas-Little Rock. After that, the Rebels found their hitting stroke.

Four Rebels had multiple hits, the team collected 14 in all — 12 of them singles — and rolled to an 11-1 rout of UALR to complete a three-game series sweep Sunday afternoon in Oxford.

After winning Friday’s opener 2-1 in 10 innings, Ole Miss scored 22 runs in the last two games of the series. All of its runs in Sunday’s finale came from the fourth inning onward.

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“I was disappointed (offensively), then in the fifth inning we scored,” Ole Miss coach Mike Bianco said. “One of the things we challenge the pitchers when we’re winning is to keep the momentum in our dugout and have a shutdown inning. You have to put up a zero after we score. In today’s game, where there is not as many runs scored, it’s even more important to keep the momentum in your dugout. We did that today.”

With the score tied 1-1 in the fifth inning, Ole Miss scored three times to take the lead for good. Auston Bousfield broke the tie with an RBI single, then stole second and scored on Austin Anderson’s double. Anderson scored on a base hit by Will Allen to make it 4-1.

Ole Miss (14-2) added two runs in the sixth, four in the seventh and one more in the eighth.

Bousfield finished the game 2-for-3 with two RBIs, Allen was 2-for-3 with an RBI and two runs scored, and Brantley Bell was 2-for-4 with an RBI double and two runs scored. Sikes Orvis also had two hits.

Sam Smith allowed one run on five hits over six innings to get the win and improve to 3-0. He walked one batter and struck out three.

Tanner Rockwell and Ryan Scott had two hits apiece for Arkansas-Little Rock (8-5).

 LSU 7, Purdue 3

Conner Hale and Andrew Stevenson drove in two runs apiece to lead LSU (14-2) over Purdue (1-10) at Alex Box Stadium in Baton Rouge.

LSU swept the three-game series and won its fifth straight game overall. The Tigers outscored Purdue 21-5 over the weekend.

Mark Laird was 3-for-3 with two runs scored for LSU. Conner Hudnall hit a two-run home run for Purdue.

Stevenson played a key role in three LSU rallies Sunday. He drove in a run with a sacrifice fly in the first inning, then walked and scored on Chris Chinea’s double in the fourth. In the fifth inning, he tripled in a run as the Tigers scored three times to go up 6-2.

 Alabama 3, MVSU 0

Alabama (9-5) completed a weekend of milestones by finishing off its three-game sweep of Mississippi Valley State (0-15).

Jon Keller allowed one hit and struck out seven in six innings, and Ben Moore went 2-for-4 with two doubles and two RBIs as the Crimson Tide shut out Valley for the third straight game. It’s the first time since 1912 that Alabama has posted three consecutive shutouts.

On Saturday night, Justin Kamplain, Jay Shaw and Geoffrey Bramblett combined to throw Alabama’s first nine-inning no-hitter since 1942 in a 7-0 win. It was the program’s first no-hitter of any type since three pitchers combined on a six-inning no-hitter against South Florida in 1993.

 Delta St. 10, Christian Brothers 0

Ricky Winters threw a complete game shutout, Kasey Hinton went 3-for-5 with a double and two RBIs, and Delta State (10-5, 9-3 Gulf South Conference) finished off a sweep of Christian Brothers (4-13, 0-9).

The game was halted by the 10-run mercy rule after eight innings.

Benji Sullvan and Hinton doubled in two runs apiece during a six-run eighth. Sullivan finished 2-for-3 with three RBIs and two runs scored.