OXFORD — Two weekends, two sweeps for Ole Miss.

The eighth-ranked Ole Miss baseball team scored five runs in the third inning to stake itself to a big early lead, and then hung on late to beat North Carolina Wilmington 8-6 on Sunday.

The Rebels (7-0) remained undefeated by sweeping their second straight weekend series against a ranked opponent. UNCW (3-3) entered the weekend at No. 23, and Ole Miss took all three games from then-No. 6 East Carolina last week.

Colby Bortles hit a two-run home run during the big third inning and added a sacrifice fly in the seventh as Ole Miss led by as much as 8-1.

Ryan Olenek drove in two runs and scored two for the Rebels, and Tate Blackman scored twice.
Ole Miss starting pitcher Brady Feigl took a no-hitter into the fifth inning, but it was broken up with a one-out triple by Terrence Connelly. Connelly went on to score UNCW’s first run on a single by Josh Hernandez.

Feigl (1-0) left after facing two batters in the sixth inning, having given up three hits and the one run. He walked two and struck out six.

The Ole Miss bullpen mostly kept the Seahawks in check the rest of the way, although Connor Green struggled in the ninth and things got interesting.

Green walked three batters, gave up a single to Hernandez, and threw a wild pitch to bring in one run and leave the bases loaded. He was pulled for closer Dallas Woolfolk, who gave up a two-run double to Robbie Thorburn and an RBI groundout to Nick Feight to cut the Rebels’ lead to 8-6 with two outs.

Woolfolk then got Mason Berne to foul out to the catcher, however, and finally escaped the jam.
All of the runs in the ninth were charged to Green. Woolfolk earned his third save of the season.

Ole Miss will finish up its season-opening eight-game homestand Tuesday at 4 p.m. against Memphis. It’ll then head to Houston next weekend to participate in the Shriners Hospitals for Children College Classic, against Big 12 opponents Baylor, Texas Tech and TCU.