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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss
Western Kentucky
Ole Miss Continues NCAA Success, Holds Off Western Kentucky
5/31/2009 | Baseball
OXFORD, Miss. -- For the fifth-straight season No. 9 Ole Miss (42-17) will find itself playing for an NCAA Regional Championship as the Rebels defeated Western Kentucky (40-19) by a score of 7-4 on Saturday to advance to the championship game of the NCAA Oxford Regional on Sunday.
Ole Miss starter Phillip Irwin (8-3) worked 6.2 innings and held the potent Hilltopper offense to four runs - three earned - on 11 hits with no walks and nine strikeouts to pick up the win. Sophomore Jake Morgan then picked up his ninth save of the season as he closed out the final 2.0 innings, holding Western Kentucky scoreless with one hit and two strikeouts.
With the Rebels leading 2-0 in the fifth inning, freshman Matt Snyder hit his eighth home run of the season - a three-run shot - that put Ole Miss up 5-0 and proved to put the game out of reach.
Shane Cameron (5-2) suffered the loss for the Hilltoppers as he worked 5.2 innings and allowed seven runs on nine hits with three walks and three strikeouts.
Ole Miss got on the board in the second inning when Kyle Henson scored on a single from Zach Miller. Henson doubled to reach base before moving to third on a wild pitch to set up the score on the Miller hit.
The Rebels then pushed out to the 2-0 lead with a single run in the third. Evan Button opened the inning with a ground-rule double as the ball hit down the right field line bounced over the fence and out of play. He then took third on a wild pitch and scored on a single to left from Jordan Henry.
Ole Miss moved out in front 5-0 in the fifth with the three-run shot from Snyder that scored Button and Logan Power who had both drawn walks to reach base.
The Rebels tacked on two more runs in the sixth to extend the lead to 7-0 as David Phillips reached on a single and Button was hit by a pitch before both runners scored on singles from Henry and Power.
Western Kentucky struck back in the bottom of the sixth with a two-run shot from Chad Cregar that got the Hilltopers on the board. Cregar's home run scored Wade Gaynor who doubled to open the inning and trimmed the lead to 7-2.
The Hilltoppers pushed two more runs across in the seventh as a two-RBI single from Matt Rice scored Matt Payton and Gaynor. Payton reached on a single and moved to third on a single to center from Gaynor that saw a fielding error allow Payton to take third and saw Gaynor advance to second for the hit from Rice. The Rebels led 7-4 after the seventh.
Freshman David Goforth entered the game following the Rice single to relieve Irwin and retired the final batter of the inning. He then gave up a lead-off walk in the eighth and was replaced on the mound by Morgan who held the Hilltoppers off the board for the final 2.0 innings to preserve the win and send the Rebels into the Championship game.
Ole Miss will face the winner of Western Kentucky and Missouri at 5 p.m. on Sunday afternoon. Western Kentucky and Missouri will face-off at 1 p.m. in an elimination game at Oxford-University Stadium/Swayze Field.
