The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss
Murray State
Yarbrough Homer Gives Rebels Win Over Murray State
4/28/2010 | Baseball
It's the second home run of the season or Yarbrough who hit a game-tying home run in the 8th inning against No. 5 LSU on Sunday to put the Rebels in position to claim a series sweep over the Tigers.
"That was a crazy baseball game," said Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco. "You have to credit Murray State for being down on the road and putting together that kind of inning. I love the way we responded when they tied it up in the eighth. Nobody panicked and everyone stayed focused.
"Alex Yarbrough was aggressive at the plate and got another big hit to win the game. He is swinging with confidence, and good things happen when players go to the plate with confidence. Matt Crouse had a tremendous outing and was very consistent for six innings. It was good to see our offense carry over from the weekend with 20 hits and 11 runs."
Brett Huber (2-0) picked up the win in relief for the second straight game as he worked 2.0 innings and gave up one run on one hit with three strikeouts. The run was unearned as it came on a fielding error in the ninth that allowed Murray State to tie the game. Huber entered the game with a man on first and no outs.
Reliever Will Handlin (0-1) suffered the loss or the Thoroughbreds as he allowed one run on four hits in 2.0 innings of work.
Ole Miss got on the board in the first inning when Matt Smith singled through the left side to score Tim Ferguson from second. Back-to-back walks put Ferguson and Hamblin on base before the Smith hit drove in Ferguson to put the Rebels up 1-0.
Murray State responded in the second, using a double down the left field line from Cory Hodskins to score Bryan Propst from second. Propst opened the inning with a double down the left field line to drive in the run.
Ole Miss answered with a two run rally in the bottom half of the frame when Hightower - who doubled with two outs - scored on a single from Tim Ferguson before Ferguson crossed the plate on a double from Hamblin.
The Rebels continued to build on the lead, plating two more runs in the third, three runs in the fourth and using a pair of solo home runs from Ferguson and Smith in the fifth to extend the lead to 10-1 in favor of the home team.
Jordan Cooper entered the game to start the seventh as Murray State made its rally with a seven run seventh inning. After a hit by pitch, a single and a walk loaded the bases, back-to-back singles pushed two runs across and kept the bases loaded for Wes Cunningham who hit a grand slam to clear the bases and send the Rebels to the bullpen for Matt Tracy with Ole Miss up 10-7.
Tracy struck out the first batter faced before giving up two singles. He then got Hodskins to line out before pinch hitter Jonathan Craycraft singled to right to drive in the final run of the inning that cut the lead to 10-8.
Murray State pushed two more runs across the plate in the ninth to tie the game, taking advantage of a fielding error at first on a grounder to third with two outs. Two runs scored on the play, tying the game at 10.
Ole Miss couldn't push anything across the board in the bottom of the ninth, but Brett Huber held the Thoroughbreds off the board in the 10th to give the Rebels the chance to claim the game in the bottom half of that frame.
Yarbrough then took a 1-2 pitch over the fence in right field to give the Rebels their sixth straight win.
Ole Miss will return to action on Wednesday night when the Rebels host UT-Martin at 6:30 p.m. at Oxford-University Stadium/Swayze Field.
