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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss
Florida
Rebels Cannot Complete Sweep Of No. 2 Florida
3/28/2010 | Baseball
OXFORD, Miss. - The Rebels fell behind early and couldn't rally as No. 17 Ole Miss (19-6, 4-2 SEC) missed out on a series sweep of No. 2 Florida (18-5, 4-2 SEC) in a 13-1 loss on Sunday. Ole Miss picked up the series win over the Gators with a 3-2 win on Friday night and a 15-3 win on Saturday.
Trent Rothlin (3-2) took the loss for the Rebels as he gave up four runs on four hits with a strikeout in 2.2 innings of work.
Brian Johnson (2-1) picked up the win for Florida as he worked 5.1 innings and held the Rebels to one run on four hits with a walk and three strikeouts to help the Gators avoid the sweep.
"It was a tough game," said Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco. "When you win two games and then get to game three and don't play very well its disappointing. Losing is miserable regardless of how you played the days before. Today was Florida's day. Offensively they took control of the game and got a lot of good a bats, much like we had Saturday. It's not acceptable to win two out of three and get beat as badly as we did. We have to give ourselves the chance to win, and today we didn't do that."
Florida struck first with a single run in the second inning as Austin Maddox hit a home run to right field to open the inning.
The Gators continued to score in the second inning, using a lead-off single to spark another rally. Tyler Thompson singled to open the frame and moved to second on a groundout from Mike Zunino. Matt den Dekker was hit by a pitch to put two men on before a single from Josh Adams scored Thompson. Both den Dekker and Adams scored two batters later when Maddox came up with a two-RBI single to push Florida out to a 4-0 lead.
The Gators added two more runs in the third, executing a double steal that saw Kamm Washington take home and a den Dekker single that pushed Thompson across the plate and gave the Gators a 6-0 advantage.
Florida added two more runs in the fourth and the fifth to take a 10-0 lead before Ole Miss would get a run across the plate in the sixth.
Kevin Mort opened the inning with a single to left to put a man on base for the Rebels. Tim Ferguson then hit a grounder to third and reached on a fielding error that allowed Mort to take second safely. A groundout from Taylor Hashman advanced both runners and sent the Gators to the bullpen for Jeff Barfield. Matt Smith then grounded out to short, driving in Mort and giving the Rebels the only run of the game.
Florida continued to score down the stretch, adding two runs in the seventh, a run in the eighth and two more runs in the ninth for the final 13-1 margin of victory.
The Rebels will return to action on Tuesday when Ole Miss travels to Trustmark Park to take on in-state rival Mississippi State in the annual Governor's Cup game. First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m.
