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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss
Auburn
Rebels Claim Series With 8-2 Win Over Auburn
5/3/2009 | Baseball
AUBURN, Ala. -- The Rebel offense continued to come up with the big hit when it needed it, using a rally in the third to push past the Tigers as No. 7 Ole Miss (35-13, 15-8 SEC) defeated Auburn (27-21, 8-15 SEC) by a score of 8-2 on Saturday night to claim the weekend series.
The two teams will face-off again at 1 p.m. on Sunday in a game televised by CSS.
Ole Miss came up with big hits in the third inning, using a two-run home run from Matt Smith and two-RBI triple from Tim Ferguson to turn a 2-1 deficit into a 5-2 lead. The Rebels never looked back from there on the way to the win.
Ferguson was 3-for-3 at the plate with three RBI, while Smith was 2-for-3 with three RBI and a run scored.
Nathan Baker (4-1) picked up the win in relief as he worked 4.2 innings and held the Tigers scoreless while striking out five and allowing six hits.
Grant Dayton (2-5) suffered the loss for Auburn as he allowed six runs on eight hits with two walks and three strikeouts.
"Phillip really battled today, but Auburn was getting after it offensively," said Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco. "Baker did a good job today of coming in and holding them back. The last two days we have really competed offensively. We have really battled with two strikes and with two outs and gotten some big hits."
Auburn got on the board in the first inning as back-to-back singles to open the frame put runners at the corners before Ben Jones was hit by a pitch to load the bases with no outs. Irwin struck out the next two batters, but walked in a run on the third with a pitch that barely missed on the outside corner of the plate. Irwin the stuck out the next batter as Auburn held a 1-0 lead.
The Rebels answered in the top of the second when Mort scored on a wild pitch on ball four to Brett Basham with two outs. Mort singled before moving to third on a single from Tim Ferguson.
The Tigers reclaimed the lead in the bottom half of the frame when Kevin Patterson scored on a sac fly to left field from Dan Gamache to give Auburn the 2-1 lead.
Ole Miss moved back in front in the third when Matt Smith hit a two-run home run to right field - his fifth home run of the year. The hit scored Logan Power from second who reached on a single and moved to second on a failed pick-off attempt at first with an errant throw.
Henson then singled to reach before Mort came up with a single to right center two outs later to push Henson to third while Mort moved to second on the throw to the infield. Tim Ferguson then came up with a two-RBI triple to right field to push Ole Miss out to a 5-2 lead.
Auburn loaded the bases in the bottom half of the third with one out and send Ole Miss to the bullpen for Nathan Baker. Baker got the next batter to ground into a double play and get the Reels out of the inning with no damage.
Power tripled with one out in the fourth and scored a batter later when Smith came up with a double to give the Rebels a 6-2 advantage.
Ole Miss continued to add to the lead in the fifth when Ferguson laid down a bunt single to score David Phillips from third. Phillips doubled to open the inning and moved to third on a groundout from Kevin Mort before scoring on the Ferguson bunt to give the Rebels a 7-2 lead.
The Rebels pushed the lead to six runs with a solo home run to right field from Matt Snyder in the ninth. Ole Miss needed no more runs as Jake Morgan held the Tigers off in the ninth to get the Rebels the win.
