The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss
Vanderbilt
No. 11 Ole Miss Again Rallies Past No. 22 Vanderbilt
3/20/2004 | Baseball
March 20, 2004
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OXFORD, Miss. - No. 11 (Baseball America) Ole Miss rallied for three runs in the bottom of the ninth inning to defeat No. 22 Vanderbilt 6-5 Saturday afternoon, in front of 4,628 at Oxford-University Stadium/Swayze Field. Ole Miss (17-1, 2-0 SEC) won Friday's series opener 5-4 on a walk-off home run by junior catcher Barry Gunther.
The Rebels will now aim for their fifth straight three-game series sweep when the two teams conclude the series Sunday afternoon at 1:30 p.m. Sophomore LHP Brae Wright (4-0, 1.67 ERA) will take the mound for Ole Miss, while sophomore southpaw Ryan Mullins (2-0, 3.38 ERA) is slated to start for the Commodores (14-4, 0-2 SEC).
Matt Tolbert delivered the game-winning hit with a walk-off single, scoring Charlie Babineaux.
Ole Miss trailed 5-0 entering the seventh inning, before Gunther drove home the Rebels' first runs with a two-run single. Tolbert hit his first home run of the season with a solo shot in the eighth to make it 5-3.
Gunther started the ninth-inning rally when he was hit by a Ryan Rote pitch with one out. After pinch-runner Drew Robinson moved to second on a passed ball, Chris Coghlan singled to center to score Robinson and make it 5-4. Babineaux hit a pinch-hit single to advanced Coghlan to second, and Cooper Osteen followed with an RBI single to tie the score and set the stage for Tolbert.
Sophomore RHP Anthony Cupps (1-0) worked 4.2 innings of scoreless relief to earn the win. He held the Commodores to two hits and walked one, while striking out three.
Rote (1-2) was tagged for three runs on four hits in 1/3 of an inning of relief in suffering the loss.
Coghlan, Stephen Head, Seth Smith and Tolbert all had two hits each for the Rebels.
Osteen's single in the ninth extended his hitting streak to 11 games.
Ryan Klosterman and Warner Jones both went 3-for-5 for the Commodores.
Vanderbilt out-hit Ole Miss 14-12 on the afternoon.
The Commodores scored a run in the first, a run in the third and three in the fourth to build a 5-0 lead before the Rebels rallied.
No. 11 Ole Miss 6, No. 22 Vanderbilt 5 (March 20, 2004 at Oxford, Miss.)----------------------------------------------------------------------Vanderbilt..........101 300 000 - 5 14 0 (14-4, 0-2 SEC)Ole Miss............000 000 213 - 6 12 0 (17-1, 2-0 SEC)----------------------------------------------------------------------Pitchers: Vanderbilt - J. Lewis; M. Buschmann(8); R. Rote(9). Ole Miss - Stephen Head;A. Cupps(5).Win-A. Cupps(1-0) Loss-R. Rote(1-2) T-2:45 A-4628HR UM - Matt Tolbert (1).Game notes:NATIONAL RANKINGS: VU- #22 BA; #27 NCBWA; #30 CBNATIONAL RANKINGS: UM- #11 BA; #11 CB; #12 NCBWA; #13 SW/ESPNHR DISTANCES: Tolbert (UM) 393-8thOsteen (UM) extends hit streak to 11 games.Game: UM0320
