The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss
Tennessee
Freshmen Lead Ole Miss Over Tennessee Saturday
4/5/2003 | Baseball
April 5, 2003
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KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - Freshman Stephen Head went 2-for-4 with a home run and three RBIs and also notched his sixth save of the year to lead Ole Miss to a 6-3 Southeastern Conference win over Tennessee, in front of 1,383 at Lindsey Nelson Stadium Saturday evening.
With the win, the Rebels (18-11, 6-5 SEC) evened the three-game series and snapped a four-game SEC losing streak. Tennessee (18-12, 5-6 SEC) won Friday's series opener 7-2.
Ole Miss scored a run in each of the first three innings, with Head's RBI single in the third giving the Rebels a 3-0 lead. He added a two-run home run, his third of the year, in the fifth to make it 5-0.
Head came on in relief in the eighth inning for Jeremy Zick and worked 1 2/3 scoreless innings to earn the save.
Freshman third baseman Brian Pettway was 4-for-4 with two doubles, a home run and two RBIs. He put Ole Miss up 1-0 with an RBI double in the first and hit his fourth home run of the year with a solo shot in the seventh to make it 6-2.
Rebel starter T.J. Beam (4-1) overcame five walks to earn the win, allowing two unearned runs on three hits and struck out six in six innings of work.
"We played much better tonight than we did Friday," said Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco. "We were tremendous on the mound with Beam, Zick and Head. We still made a couple of errors in the field that allowed them to score some runs. Offensively, I thought we were really aggressive at the plate."
Tennessee starter Derek Tharpe (3-3) suffered the loss, as he was charged with six runs, five earned, on 10 hits and one walk in 6 2/3 innings.
The Rebels out-hit the Volunteers 12-5 on the night.
Left fielder Josh Alley went 2-for-3 to lead Tennessee.
The two teams will meet in the rubber-match Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m., CDT. Redshirt freshman Eric Fowler (1-1, 2.78 ERA) is scheduled to start on the mound for Ole Miss, while Tennessee is expected to counter with freshman right-hander Luke Hochevar (4-3, 2.79 ERA).
Ole Miss 6, Tennessee 3 (Apr 05, 2003 at Knoxville, Tenn.)----------------------------------------------------------------------Ole Miss 111 020 100 - 6 12 2 (19-11, 6-5 SEC)Tennessee 000 020 010 - 3 5 2 (18-12, 5-6 SEC)----------------------------------------------------------------------Pitchers: Ole Miss - TJ Beam; Jeremy Zick(7); Stephen Head(8). Tennessee - Tharpe; Wesley(7);Andrews(9).Win-TJ Beam(4-1) Save-Stephen Head(6) Loss-Tharpe(3-3) T-3:13 A-1383HR UM - B. Pettway (4); Stephen Head (3).Game notes:Sterbens (UM) has 13-game hit streak halted.Rebels snap 4-game SEC losing streak and 7-game skid vs. UT in Knoxville.Game: UM0405
