Rebels take series from Texas A&M

Published 9:32 am Monday, May 15, 2017

OXFORD — Ole Miss closed down Swayze Field in style on Sunday.

Tate Blackman and Colby Bortles homered, David Parkinson allowed one run in six sharp innings, and the Rebels beat Texas A&M 6-4 in their last regular season game at home this season.

Ole Miss (31-21, 13-14 Southeastern Conference) won its third series in four weekends and finished with a 24-8 record at Swayze Field. It is a bubble team for the NCAA Tournament, and likely will not play again in Oxford this year unless it gets to host a super regional.

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Texas A&M (35-17, 15-12) has lost two consecutive series and four of its last five conference games after winning 11 out of 12 before that.

“It’s a very disappointing finish to the weekend. In the end we weren’t good enough in any area of the game to deserve to win,” Texas A&M coach Rob Childress said. “When you start the game by loading the bases and giving away two runs, it’s a tough hill to climb.”

Despite pulling out a win on Saturday, Ole Miss only led for one inning in the first two games of the series. That changed Sunday, when it went wire-to-wire with the lead.

A single and two walks loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the first inning, and Ryan Olenek drove in the game’s first run with a sacrifice fly.

Another run scored when Colby Bortles hustled home while Nick Fortes was caught in a rundown between first and second. Bortles crossed the plate just before Fortes was tagged for the final out.

Texas A&M got a run back in the third inning on an RBI single by Logan Foster, but after that Ole Miss started to pull away.

Olenek scored on a squeeze bunt in the fourth inning to make it 3-1. In the eighth, Blackman hit a solo home run and Bortles a two-run shot to push the lead to 6-1.

Texas A&M scored twice in the ninth to get within 6-3, but never brought the tying run to the plate. Jorge Gutierrez led off with a home run, and Nick Choruby drove in the final run with a two-out single.

Ole Miss closer Dallas Woolfolk struck out Foster to end the game and earn his 12th save of the season.

Parkinson (6-3) got the win. He allowed five hits and three walks, but only one run, in six innings. He had five strikeouts.

Will Golsan led the Rebels’ offense by going 3-for-4 with a double and two runs scored. Olenek also was 3-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored.

Bortles drove in two runs and scored two more.

Ole Miss will finish the regular season with four straight road games. It will play at Arkansas State on Tuesday night, and then at Auburn in a three-game SEC series beginning Thursday.