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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss
Vermont
No. 14 Ole Miss Blows Past Vermont 20-4
3/6/2009 | Baseball
OXFORD, Miss. -- The offense was rolling for the Rebels on Friday night as No. 14 Ole Miss (5-3) pounded out 20 runs on 18 hits to grab a 20-4 victory over Vermont (0-4) at Oxford-University Stadium/Swayze Field.
Kevin Mort led the Rebel offense as the junior shortstop was 4-for-5 with five RBI and three runs scored. Zach Miller and Jordan Henry were also big for the Rebels at the plate as Miller was 2-for-3 with three RBI and Henry was 3-for-5 with three RBI and three runs scored.
Rory McKean (1-0) picked up the win in relief for the Rebels as he worked 3.0 scoreless innings and held the Catamounts to three hits while striking out three. Ole Miss only allowed one walk on the night as a pitching staff, while notching 13 strikeouts to tie the season-high set against Liberty.
Starter Joe Serafin (0-1) suffered the loss for the Catamounts as he allowed eight runs - five earned - on nine hits with three walks and two strikeouts.
"It was a good night at the plate for us. I thought we swung it well all night. Kevin Mort had a tremendous night at the plate for us with four hits and driving in five runs. We got some key hits, strung some hits together and were able to put together some big innings."
The Catamounts scored in the first inning when Mark Micowski scored from second on a single from Ethan Paquette. Micowski singled to open the inning before stealing second.
The Rebels answered in the bottom half of the frame, pushing three runs across the plate on five hits. Jordan Henry started the scoring after leading off with a double then moving to third on a sac bunt from Tim Ferguson. A Matt Smith single scored Henry and the Rebel offense was in gear as Ole Miss held a 3-1 lead at the end of one.
Jeff Nolet opened the Vermont second with a home run to right center to cut the lead to 3-2 as he came up with the hit on a full count. Barrett notched a strikeout and coaxed two groundouts from the next three batters to get the Rebels out of the inning and kept Ole Miss in the lead.
The Catamounts tied the game in the third with a sacrifice fly to right field from Moylan that scored Micowski from third. Micowski doubled to open the inning and moved to third on a throwing error from Barrett on a pick off attempt at second.
A double and a triple to open the fourth inning gave the Catamounts the lead 4-3. Dave Soltis doubled down the right field line to open the frame before a triple from Kelly pushed the go-ahead run across the plate.
Ole Miss responded in the bottom half of the inning, using a double from Brett Basham and a single from Jordan Henry to push two runs across the plate and reclaim the lead 5-4. Kevin Mort reached on a throwing error before moving to third on the ground rule double from Basham that bounced over the fence in left center. Both runners scored a batter later on the single from Henry. Henry moved to second on the throw home to try to catch Basham at the plate before stealing third and scoring on a double from Ferguson to push the advantage to 6-4 in favor of the home team.
A two-RBI double from Mort in the fifth inning extended the lead to 8-4 as Taylor Hashman and Travis scored on the play.
Ole Miss exploded for nine runs in the sixth inning, using five hits, two walks and two hit batters to move the lead out to 17-4.
The Rebels continued to build on the lead from there, adding three runs in the seventh to reach the final margin of victory at 20-4 as the Rebel pitchers continued to hold Vermont off the board.
Ole Miss and Vermont will take the field for the second game of the series on Saturday. First pitch is set for 1:30 p.m. at Oxford-University Stadium/Swayze Field.
