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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss
Western Kentucky
Late WKU Rally Forces Rebels Into Elimination Game
6/1/2009 | Baseball
OXFORD, Miss. -- Things went the Rebels' way early, but a furious rally from Western Kentucky (42-19) over the last three innings saw things slip away as No. 9 Ole Miss (42-18) fell to the Hilltoppers 10-9 on Sunday in the NCAA Oxford Regional.
The two teams will now face-off in an elimination game at 7 p.m. on Monday at Oxford-University Stadium/Swayze Field to determine the winner of the Regional Championship and who will advance to the NCAA Super Regional next weekend.
With the Rebels leading 9-3 in the seventh, Western Kentucky used a pair of solo home runs to cut into the lead before a two-RBI single in the eighth followed by a three-run home run tied the game at nine. The Hilltoppers then added a solo home run in the ninth from Jake Wells to take the lead and claim the win.
Nathan Baker (4-2) suffered the loss for Ole Miss as he worked the final 2.0 innings and allowed one run on one hit with two strikeouts.
Chad Adcock (1-2) picked up the win as he worked the eighth to see the Hilltoppers take the lead before Garrie Krueger picked up his second save with a hitless ninth.
The Rebels jumped out to the early lead as Jeremy Travis came up with a two-RBI double to score Kyle Henson and Zach Miller. Henson doubled to open the inning before Miller was hit by a pitch to put two men on. A sac bunt moved both runners to scoring position for the Travis hit brought them home. Travis then scored two batters later on a single from Brett Basham to give Ole Miss the 3-0 lead.
Western Kentucky answered with a run in the fourth as Matt Hightower scored on a Jared Andreoli single. Hightower singled then stole second and advanced to third on a wild pitch before the Andreoli hit.
A pair of runs in the fifth pushed the lead out to 5-1 before Kevin Mort hit a two-RBI single in the sixth to extend the lead to 7-1.
Again the Hilltoppers came back with a two-run inning as back-to-back home runs in the seventh from Matt Rice and Wade Gaynor cut the lead to 7-3.
Matt Smith then belted out a two-run home run in the bottom of the seventh to take the lead back out to 9-3 in favor of the Rebels.
Western Kentucky took control from there, plating six runs in the eighth inning to tie the game before the solo home run in the ninth gave the Hilltoppers the 10-9 lead. Ole Miss then was retired in order in the bottom of the ninth as Western Kentucky picked up the win and forced the "if" game on Monday to decide the Regional championship.
