The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss
Florida
Gray, Bradshaw Shutout Florida
4/22/2001 | Baseball
April 22, 2001
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OXFORD, Miss. - Junior left-hander Mike Gray and freshman right-hander Nick Bradshaw combined on a seven-hit shutout to lead No. 15 Ole Miss to a 4-0 win and a three-game sweep of Florida in front of 2,911 at Oxford-University Stadium/Swayze Field.
With the win, the Rebels (30-13-1, 14-7 SEC) kept pace with LSU and Mississippi State for first place in the overall Southeastern Conference standings. Tennessee dropped a game behind the pack after losing 14-1 to Arkansas in Fayetteville.
The sweep was Ole Miss' third of an SEC opponent this season, marking the first time the Rebels have swept at least three conference series since 1972. The victory also gave Ole Miss four straight 30-win seasons for the first time in school history.
Gray (3-1) pitched into the seventh inning, allowing six hits and three walks, while striking out one. He was able to work in and out of trouble all afternoon as the Gators had a runner reach second in four of his six innings, and only retired the side in order once. Gray was lifted for Bradshaw after issuing a lead-off walk to Kevin Estrada in the seventh.
Bradshaw kept the Gators at bay to earn his first collegiate save. He retired nine of the 11 batters he faced, allowing just one hit and walking none, while striking out three. The only other Gator to reach base against Bradshaw was Mark Kiger on a fielding error by second baseman Matt Tolbert in the seventh inning, putting runners on first and second with one out.
However, he coaxed Matt Goss to pop out to third and struck out Aaron Davidson to end the inning.
The Rebels scored all the runs they would need with three in the fourth inning. Tolbert pushed the first run across with bloop single to center to score Banks Robinson, who had reached on an error to start the inning. A batter later, Clint Farrar drew a bases loaded walk to make it 2-0, and after Chad Sterbens flew out to right, Burney Hutchinson was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to score Tolbert.
Carl Lafferty's solo home run in the eighth capped the scoring. The home run was his second of the year.
Tolbert led the Rebels at the plate with a 3-for-3 performance. Junior center fielder Kris Cox added two hits as Ole Miss out-hit Florida 9-7.
The Rebels, however, stranded 14 runners on base, including leaving the bases loaded three times. The Gators left 10 runners on base as the two teams combined to strand 24 runners, 15 in scoring position.
Starter Alex Hart (2-2) took the loss for Florida, allowing three runs, two earned, on seven hits and four walks. He also struck out four.
Ole Miss will return to action Tuesday when the Rebels begin a two-game series with Louisiana-Monroe at 6:30 p.m. The Rebels will be on the road next weekend, opening a three-game SEC series at Vanderbilt Friday evening at 7 p.m.
Ole Miss 4, Florida 0 (Apr 22, 2001 at Oxford, MS)----------------------------------------------------------------------Florida............000 000 000 - 0 7 2 (26-20, 10-11 SEC)Ole Miss.......... 000 300 01X - 4 9 2 (30-13-1, 14-7 SEC)----------------------------------------------------------------------Pitchers: Florida - Hart, Bomeisl(5), Ramsey(7). Ole Miss - M. Gray, N. Bradshaw(7).Win-M. Gray(3-1) Save-N. Bradshaw(1) Loss-Hart(2-2) T-2:58 A-2911HR UM - C. Lafferty (2).Game notes:NATIONAL RANKINGS: UM- #15 CB, #18 BA, #22 BW/ESPN, FLA- NR.UM sweeps 3 SEC series in same season for first time since '72...Rebelsrecord 4th straight 30-win seasons, 1st time in school history...UM hasswept last two series vs. FLA in Oxford.M. Gray faced 1 batter in the 7th.
