The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss
Murray State
No. 18 Ole Miss Races Past Thoroughbreds 9-0
4/24/2007 | Baseball
The win was the fifth shutout of the season for the Rebels as Ole Miss used five pitchers on the night, limiting the Thoroughbreds to two hits and striking out 10 batters.
Scott Bittle (2-4) picked up the win in his first start of the season as he worked 3.0 innings with one hit and five strikeouts on a pitch count. Brett Bukvich, Jesse Simpson, Craig Rodriguez and Wade Broyles all saw action on the night.
Jacob Donze (3-4) suffered the loss for the Thoroughbreds as he gave up six runs, three of them earned, on four hits with four walks and three strikeouts.
Cody Overbeck led the Rebels at the plate, going 2-for-2 with two runs scored and two RBI. Zach Miller also drove in two runs with a double as he went 1-for-2 on the night. Zack Cozart extended his hitting streak to 15 games with a single in the seventh.
“I thought we played a clean game, and it started with Scott Bittle on the mound as he looked really sharp,” said Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco. “All of the pitchers looked good. They pitched with a lot of confidence and we needed that. Offensively, we didn’t get a lot of hits, but we had some timely hits, and that’s what you need.”
Ole Miss got on the board in the third when Jordan Henry scored on a sac fly to center field from Zack Cozart. Jordan Henry reached on an infield single to second before moving to second on a walk of brother Justin Henry. A double steal moved both runners into scoring position for Cozart’s fly out. Cody Overbeck then homered to left field in the next at bat to push the Rebels to a 3-0 lead.
The Rebels pushed the lead to 6-0 in the sixth inning. Overbeck doubled to left after a dropped foul ball gave him new life and then moved to third on a groundout to first from Power. Zach Miller reached on a hit by pitch before a wild pitch moved Miller to second and scored Overbeck. Kyle Mills walked before JoJo Tann entered to pinch run for the designated hitter. Peyton Farr pinch hit for C.J. Ketchum, reaching on a throwing error from third that allowed both Miller and Tann to score before Farr was thrown out at third trying to stretch the play.
The Rebels loaded the bases with no outs in the seventh before a sac fly from Logan Power and a double from Miller pushed three more runs across.
Broyles closed out the game for the Rebels, preserving the win and the fifth shutout of the season for the Rebels.
Ole Miss will return to action this weekend when the Rebels host in-state rival
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