The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss
Samford
No 19 Ole Miss Edged By Samford 3-2
2/22/2006 | Baseball
Feb. 22, 2006
Box Score
OXFORD, Miss. - Ole Miss dropped its first game of the season on Wednesday as the Samford Bulldogs (3-2) out-hit the 19th-ranked Rebels (3-1) on the way to a slim 3-2 victory. Samford tallied nine hits to the Rebels' four hits on the night.
"It is a disappointing loss," said Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco. "It is tough to win when offensively you only have four hits. You have to give credit to Samford. Lassiter pitched very effectively. He mixed up his pitches and got out of jams. Offensively they got the key hits when they needed to."
Freshman Cody Overbeck came up big for the Rebels again, hitting his second home run of the season to give the Rebels the early 1-0 lead in the second inning. Overbeck also hit a home run in the first game of the series the night before to put the Rebels on the board. The freshman finished 1-for-3 on the night with an RBI and a run scored.
Sophomore Justin Henry scored Ole Miss' only other run of the night in the eighth inning. The second baseman reached on a fielding error before moving to second on a passed ball. Henry then scored a batter later as Zack Cozart singled up the middle. Cozart finished the night 1-for-4 at the plate with an RBI.
Brett Bukvich (0-1) suffered the loss for the Rebels in his first career start on the mound. The redshirt freshman walked one and struck out five, while allowing two unearned runs on five hits.
Eric Lassiter (1-0) picked up the win for the Bulldogs as he struck out seven and walked two in 7.2 innings of work. Lassiter gave up two runs, one of them earned, on three hits in the outing. Daniel Davidson closed out the game for Samford as he pitched 1.1 innings walking one, striking out one and allowing one hit.
After trailing by a run through five innings, Samford took the lead in the sixth with a pair of runs. John Morgan led off the inning with a single for the Bulldogs and then moved to second on a throwing error in a rundown as the Rebels' Bukvich caught Morgan with two large a lead at first. The Rebels were unable to capitalize as a throw in the rundown missed its mark and allowed Morgan to reach second safely. Morgan would score on the next play as a Louis Rojas singled tied the game.
Southpaw Craig Rodriguez came in to relieve Bukvich at that point. Garrett Rice reached on a fielding error at third in the next at bat , moving Rojas to second. A strikeout later, with two outs on the board, Bear Burnett singled to left field to score Rojas and give Samford the lead.
Samford would add a third run in the seventh inning to take the 3-1 lead.
The Rebels threatened in the ninth inning, moving runners to second and third with two outs, but were unable to get the runners home to force extra innings or claim the win.
Ole Miss will return to action on Friday, when the Rebels host Maine in the first game of a three-game series. The Rebels and Black Bears will take the field for a 3 p.m. start at Oxford-University Stadium/Swayze Field.
