Ole Miss evens series with Arkansas

Published 10:57 pm Friday, March 30, 2018

OXFORD — Ole Miss did the heavy lifting early, then settled in and survived.

The Rebels took the lead with two unearned runs in the second inning, padded it with a two-run home run by Nick Fortes in the fifth, and then held off Arkansas’ late charge to beat the Razorbacks 5-4 Friday night at Swayze Field.

Ryan Olenek went 3-for-4 and scored two runs for the Rebels (24-4, 5-3 Southeastern Conference), who evened the series at a game apiece. The finale is Saturday at 1 p.m.
It’s the third time in three SEC weekends that Ole Miss has split the first two games of a series.

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Friday’s game put the Rebels and Razorbacks (19-8, 5-3) into a three-way tie with Auburn for first place in the SEC Western Division.

Ole Miss starting pitcher Brady Feigl scattered seven hits and four walks in 5 1/3 innings, but struck out four and only allowed two runs.

Parker Caracci worked the last two innings for his fifth save of the season, but Arkansas made things interesting.

Grant Koch doubled in a run in the sixth inning, and then Jordan McFarland scored on a sacrifice fly in the seventh to cut the Rebels’ lead to 5-4 with the tying run still on base.
Carson Shaddy was thrown out stealing second and Eric Cole followed with a double, but was stranded there. Caracci struck out the side in the ninth.

Cole was 3-for-5 with an RBI, while Casey Martin and Dominic Fletcher each had two hits and scored a run.

Southern Miss 12, Rice 1

Southern Miss kicked off a long homestand with a big win.

Matt Wallner went 3-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored, and hit two of Southern Miss’ five doubles as it beat Rice 12-1 Friday night.

The Golden Eagles (18-6, 5-1 Conference USA) blew the game open by scoring eight runs in the bottom of the eighth inning. LeeMarcus Boyd had a two-run double during the rally and Rice’s pitchers walked five batters.

USM’s Nick Sandlin (4-0) pitched eight innings, and allowed one run on two hits while striking out 13. He did not walk a batter.

The game was the start of a three-game Conference USA series, and the first of eight home games in 10 days for Southern Miss. It will play Rice again Saturday at 2 p.m.

Mississippi State 4, LSU 1

Sophomore left-hander Ethan Small allowed one run in a career-high eight innings as Mississippi State beat LSU 4-1 Friday to even their Southeastern Conference baseball series at a game apiece.

Justin Foscue went 2-for-2 with a solo home run for Mississippi State (14-14, 2-6 SEC). Luke Alexander, Tanner Allen and Hunter Vansau also had two hits each.

Beau Jordan homered in the second inning to bring in the only run for LSU (17-11, 4-4). Small scattered four hits, walked one batter and struck out nine.

Cole Gordon struck out two of the three batters he faced in the ninth inning for his second save of the season.

The Bulldogs and Tigers will conclude their series at Alex Box Stadium Saturday at 2 p.m.