Rebels complete sweep; Dogs win series finale
Published 6:31 pm Sunday, March 11, 2018
OXFORD — Another weekend, another sweep for Ole Miss.
Chase Cockrell hit two solo home runs, Ryan Olenek had two hits and drove in a pair of runs, and the Rebels beat Eastern Illinois 7-3 on Sunday to finish off a three-game series sweep at Swayze Field.
Ole Miss swept its third weekend series in a row to close out its non-conference schedule with a 15-1 record. It will play a two-game midweek series at Georgia State on Tuesday and Wednesday, then begin Southeastern Conference play Friday at home against Tennessee.
“When you look back at these four weeks, we’ve played well in a lot of different areas,” Ole Miss coach Mike Bianco said. “There’s not one area where you say, ‘Hey, we’ve done well in this area but in this area, we haven’t.’ We’ve pitched it well. We’ve swung it. We’ve run the bases. We’ve really defended well. Happy with the way we’re playing. We want to continue to play at a high pace like that.”
Ole Miss got things rolling in the bottom of the second inning. A one-out double by Will Golsan was the first of six hits, and sparked a four-run rally that put the Rebels ahead for good.
Cooper Johnson and Grae Kessinger each had RBI singles, and Olenek delivered a two-run single to make it 4-1.
Cockrell homered in the fourth and sixth innings to keep the Rebels a step ahead as Eastern Illinois (5-8) had closed to within 5-3 at one point.
Cockrell went 8-for-11 with four RBIs this week to bump his average to a team-best .559 through 31 at-bats.
“It’s a sign of a good club,” Bianco said. “Every time that we scored, we were able to answer back. It kind of keeps the momentum in your dugout.”
Mississippi State 5, Utah Valley 3
Rowdey Jordan hit a three-run home run in the fourth inning to propel Mississippi State (10-6) past Utah Valley (5-9).
Jordan’s homer snapped a 1-all tie and gave the Bulldogs the lead for good. He finished 2-for-4 with three RBIs and a run scored. Tanner Allen had two hits, including an RBI double, and Hunter Stovall was 2-for-4 with an RBI single.
Jacob Billingsley (2-0) pitched five solid innings to get the win. He allowed one run on four hits and a walk, and struck out four.
Four relievers finished up for the Bulldogs. J.P. France worked around a hit to throw a scoreless ninth inning and earn his first save of the season.
“I’m proud of the win,” Mississippi State coach Gary Henderson said. “We had some timely hits and our bullpen threw strikes. Each of our four relievers came in and did what they were supposed to do. Jacob (Billingsley) allowed one run over five innings on what was not his best day. We will take that.”
LSU 14, Hawaii 1
LSU’s offense erupted for 14 runs on a season-high 17 hits to capture the series finale against Hawaii Sunday afternoon at Alex Box Stadium.
Hunter Feduccia went 3-for-4 with two doubles and four RBIs for LSU (11-6). Daniel Cabrera and Hal Hughes each had two hits, a double and two RBIs. LSU hit six doubles in the game.
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The Oxford Eagle contributed to this report.