The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss
Arkansas
Rebels Down No. 9 Arkansas 3-2 To Even Series
5/9/2010 | Baseball
OXFORD, Miss. - Aaron Barrett pitched a career-long 8.0 innings and held the Razorbacks to one run, while Brett Huber picked up his eighth save as No. 11 Ole Miss (34-14, 15-8 SEC) defeated No. 9 Arkansas (36-11, 15-8 SEC) by a score of 3-2 on Saturday.
The win evened the weekend series at a game each heading into Sunday's contest with both teams tied for the SEC Western Division lead.
Barrett (7-2) picked up the win in the career-long outing as he allowed one run on six hits with two walks and six strikeouts. Huber then came in and worked the ninth to pick up his eighth save of the year - all in conference play - and allowed only one run on a solo home run from pinch hitter Tom Hauskey.
Arkansas starter D.J. Baxendale (0-1) suffered the loss as he allowed three runs on four hits with two walks in 1.2 innings of work.
"It was an awesome game tonight," said Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco. "[Aaron] Barrett was just tremendous. It might be the best game he's thrown all year. For most of the eight innings, he was consistently ahead [in the count] all night. Great fastball command and used those sliders late effectively.
"I like the way we responded early after a tough loss last night. We came back, got some runs early, and that was all Barrett needed."
Matt Smith led the Rebels at the plate, going 3-for-4 with three RBI and a run scored as he drove in every run scored with a two-run home run in the first and an RBI single in the second. Alex Yarbrough and Zach Miller also had solid outings with 2-for-4 performances at the plate.
Ole Miss got on the board in the first inning when Smith hit a two-run shot to right field, scoring Yarbrough on the play. Yarbrough doubled in the previous at bat to set up the two-run shot from Smith.
The Rebels added a third run in the second inning when Tim Ferguson scored from third base on a single deep to short from Smith. Ferguson reached on a fielder's choice and took third on a hit and run when Yarbrough singled through the right side. The run gave the Rebels a 3-0 lead.
Arkansas got things going in the fourth inning, using a solo home run from Zack Cox to open the inning, but a pop out and a double play in the next three at bats ended the rally with Ole Miss still up 3-1.
The Razorbacks again cut into the lead in the ninth when the pinch-hitting Hauskey hit a solo shot to left field with two outs to cut the lead to 3-2 in favor of the Rebels. Huber was able to get Travis Sample to ground out to end the inning and clinch the win for Ole Miss.
The Rebels and Arkansas will face off in the final game of the series at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday at Oxford-University Stadium/Swayze Field.
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