The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss
Tennessee
Five-Run Seventh Inning Lifts Rebels Over Vols, 9-8
4/6/2003 | Baseball
April 6, 2003
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Box Score
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - Charlie Babineaux scored on a balk by Brandon Crowe with two outs in the seventh to cap a five-run inning as Ole Miss defeated Tennessee 9-8 to win the rubber-match of this weekend's three-game Southeastern Conference series Sunday afternoon, in front of 1,027 at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.
With the win, Ole Miss recorded its first series win over Tennessee since 1991.
Trailing 8-3, Chad Sterbens reached on a lead-off single to start the seventh. Seth Smith then hit a slow bouncer to second and Sterbens avoided the tag and beat the throw to second to put runners on first and second. Following a Brian Pettway walk to load the bases, Stephen Head lifted a double down the left field line to plate both Sterbens and Smith to pull the Rebels to within 8-6 and chase starter Luke Hochevar.
Beau Massey came on in relief and walked Charlie Babineaux to reload the bases. Massey was then relieved by Brandon Crowe and Charlie Waite hit a sac fly to center that allowed Pettway to score to cut the Volunteers' lead to 8-7. Head and Babineaux also advanced on the sac fly and a throwing error by third baseman Michael Rivera on the play allowed Head to score and tie game at 8-8. A batter later, Crowe was called for a balk to allow Babineaux to come home with the winning run.
Anthony Cupps (3-0) earned the win by working 4 1/3 innings of relief. He allowed two runs on four hits and walked one.
Javi Herrera reached on a lead-off single in the bottom of the ninth off Jeremy Zick, before Head would come in to retire three straight batters to record his seventh save.
Massey (1-2) was charged with the loss after facing just one batter in the seventh.
Sterbens and Jonathan Swearingen had three hits each to lead Ole Miss, as the Rebels out-hit the Volunteers 15-10. Head finished 2-for-4 with four RBIs.
Chad LeGate and Walter Sevilla recorded two hits a piece for Tennessee.
The Rebels scored two runs in the first and sophomore Barry Gunther hit his first career home run with a solo shot in the fourth to give Ole Miss a 3-0 lead.
Tennessee answered with six runs in the bottom of the fourth, sending nine batters to the plate, to take a 6-3.
Swearingen hit his third homer of the year in the fifth to pull Ole Miss to within 6-4.
The Volunteers then answered with a run in the bottom of the fifth and sixth to make it 8-4.
The game was delayed with Ole Miss leading 2-0 in the top of the first for one hour and 34 minutes before play resumed.
Ole Miss 6, Tennessee 3 (Apr 05, 2003 at Knoxville, Tenn.)----------------------------------------------------------------------Ole Miss 200 110 500 - 9 15 2 (20-11, 7-5 SEC)Tennessee 000 611 000 - 8 10 1 (18-13, 5-7 SEC)----------------------------------------------------------------------Pitchers: Ole Miss - Eric Fowler; A. Cupps(4); Jeremy Zick(8); Stephen Head(9). Tennessee - Hochevar; Massey(7); Crowe, B.(7); Johnson(8).
Win-A. Cupps(3-0) Save-Stephen Head(7) Loss-Massey(1-2) T-3:23 A-1027
HR UM - Swearingen (3); B. Gunther (1).
Game notes:
Ole Miss wins series 2-1 to record first series win over Tennessee since 1991 ... Rebels 3-5 in 1-run games in 2003 ... Game delayed 1-hour, 34-minutes in top of 1st.
Hochevar faced 4 batters in the 7th.
Massey faced 1 batter in the 7th.
Jeremy Zick faced 1 batter in the 9th.
Game: UM0406
