The University of Mississippi Athletics
Diamond Rebels fall to Florida 19-6
6/21/1999 | Baseball
April 10, 1998
GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Derek Nicholson was a single short of hitting for the cycle as the Florida Gators routed the Ole Miss 19-6 in a Southeastern Conference game Friday night in Gainesville, Fla.
Nicholson tripled in his first at-bat to spark a six-run second inning as the Gators erased an early 3-0 Rebel lead.
Florida (28-8, 12-3 Southeastern Conference) then added five runs in the third and four runs in the fourth, including a solo shot by Nicholson to lead-off the inning, to increase its lead to 15-3.
Matt McClendon earned the win to improve to 5-2 for the Gators. McClendon worked 7 2/3 innings, allowing six runs on 13 hits while walking one and fanning eight.
Jeff McAvoy suffered the loss for the Rebels (19-17, 5-10 SEC) to fall to 3-5. McAvoy lasted just three innings, yielding nine earned runs on 11 hits.
Nicholson finished the night 3-for-5 with two RBIs and Greg Catalanotte went 2-for-4 with five RBIs as four Gators collected three hits each. Florida out-hit the Rebels 17-12.
Chad Hill hit a two-run home run for the Rebels in the sixth to make it a 15-6 game. The home runs was the 62nd of the year for the Rebels, putting them four short of tying the school single-season record of 66 set back in 1977.
Bobby Kielty went 2-for-5 for Ole Miss and has now hit safely in 20 of the last 21 games.
Game two of the three-game series is set for tomorrow at 6 p.m. CDT. Sophomore Ryan Bukvich (3-2, 6.80 ERA) is scheduled to start for Ole Miss against Florida right-hander Tommy Bond (3-0, 4.09 ERA).
