The University of Mississippi Athletics
Baseball Defeats Austin Peay, 8-5, in Non-Conference Action
6/21/1999 | Baseball
February 16, 1999
OXFORD, Miss. - Ole Miss junior righthander Jeff McAvoy picked up his second victory of the season, and Chad Mead, Justin Huisman and Michael Rosamond each homered to power the Rebel baseball squad to an 8-5 victory over Austin Peay in non-conference action at Oxford-University Stadium/Swayze Field on Tuesday. The contest was the home opener for the Rebels.
With the win, Ole Miss improved its record to 2-2. The Governors fell to 0-1.
McAvoy (2-0) earned the win, as he threw four innings and allowed only two runs on four hits while striking out three. Huisman picked up his first save of the season, pitching a perfect ninth inning. Aaron Hempel (0-1) suffered the loss for Austin Peay, as he allowed six runs on seven hits in four innings.
Rosamond led the Rebels at the plate, going 2-for-4 with two RBI and three runs scored. Chad Mead also collected two hits (2-for-4, HR) along with two RBI and two runs scored. Lance Wampler (2-for-3) and Pat O'Sullivan (2-for-5) led the Governors' offense with two hits apiece.
Down 5-3 going into the bottom of the fifth, the Rebels exploded for four runs on two hits to regain the lead for good. Robert Skelton led off the fifth with a walk, and then scored when Mead followed with a two-run homer to tie the contest at 5-5. Rosamond followed with another walk, and after stealing second, he moved to third on a John Massey groundout. Rosamond then scored on a wild pitch to give Ole Miss a 6-5 lead. Huisman finished the Rebel scoring in the bottom of the fifth with a solo home run to increase the Ole Miss advantage to 7-5.
In the seventh inning, Rosamond homered to give Ole Miss its final 8-5 margin of victory.
The Governors grabbed a 1-0 lead in the top of the first, but the Rebels quickly responded with three runs in the bottom half of the first for a 3-1 advantage. Austin Peay then scored two runs in its half of the fourth and fifth innings to take a 5-4 lead.
The Rebels return to action this weekend (Feb. 19-21) at the Winn-Dixie Showdown in New Orleans, La. Ole Miss will meet Tulane at 4:00 p.m. on Friday, New Orleans at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday and LSU at 12:00 p.m. on Sunday.
Austin Peay 1 0 0 2 2 0 0 0 0 -- 5 7 4Ole Miss 3 0 0 0 4 0 1 0 x -- 8 9 2
AP-Aaron Hempel, Nathan Stecker (5), Bill Tarajack (6), George Sherrill (8) and Mike Frey
OM-Chad Mead, Jeff McAvoy (5), Jason Huisman (9) and John Massey, Carl Lafferty (8)
WP-McAvoy (2-0)
LP-Hempel (0-1)HR-OM: Mead, Rosamond, Huisman
