The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss
22-14, 5-8
LSU
34-3, 7-3
Rebels Drop Series Opener At No. 2 LSU
4/3/2015 | Softball
BATON ROUGE, La. -- The Rebels limited the Tigers' opportunities, never giving up the big inning, but the home team scored a run in five of six innings of play as Ole Miss (22-14, 5-8 SEC) fell at No. 2 LSU (34-3, 7-3 SEC) by a score of 5-2 in the series opener.
Senior third baseman Allison Brown took her hit streak out to nine games, going 2-for-3 on the night with a single and a two-run home run to lead the Ole Miss offense.
Madi Osias (6-8) suffered the loss for the Rebels, allowing five runs on 12 hits with three walks in the complete-game effort.
Baylee Corbello (9-0) picked up the win, allowing two runs on four hits with nine strikeouts on the night.
"We need to do a better job playing defense behind our pitchers," said Ole Miss head coach Mike Smith. "We got ourselves in a little bit of trouble and overthrew some balls that allowed them to get extra bases. They are a pesky team with two strikes and they did a better job with their quality at bats than we did. Hopefully that two-run home run from Allison (Brown) gives us a little momentum heading into tomorrow. We've proven we are capable of playing with top-25 teams and we still have a chance to win a series tomorrow."
LSU got on the board in the first inning with a single up the middle from Savannah Jaquish with runners at the corner. The one-out hit started the scoring for the Tigers as the home team took the early lead on the Rebels and left two on base.
Osias and the Rebels would get out of the inning with no more damage, getting a fielder's choice to put two away before Miranda Strother would gun down a runner at the plate for the final out of the inning and keep the lead to 1-0 in favor of the Tigers.
LSU added to the lead in the second inning when Bailey Landry came up with an infield single on a high chopper to short with two outs and runners in scoring position. Alayna Falcon scored from third on the play to take the Tiger lead out to 2-0.
The lead grew to 3-0 in the third inning with another two-out hit from the Tigers as Falcon singled up the middle with two on base. The lead runner scored, but the second was thrown out at third base trying to take an extra base on the play and ended the inning with only the one run scored.
LSU added to the lead in the fifth inning, pushing home a run with a two-out single through the right side from Sandra Simmons that scored Bianka Bell from third. Bell reached on a double to the right center gap before taking third on a fielder's choice to second. She then scored on the Simmons hit to give the Tigers the 4-0 lead.
Allison Brown got the Rebels on the board with a two-run home run with two outs on the board in the seventh inning. Her fifth home run of the season cut the lead to 5-2, but Ole Miss could get no closer as the Tigers would get the final out to claim the victory.
The Rebels and Tigers will close out the series with a doubleheader on Saturday. Game one of the doubleheader will begin at 2 p.m. with the second game to follow approximately 30 minutes after the conclusion of game one. Both games can be watched online through the SEC Network+ digital platform.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Corbello (9-0)
L: Osias, Madi (6-8)
Batting:
HR: Brown, Allison 1
RBI: Brown, Allison 2
SH: Martinez, Natalie 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Strother, Miranda 1 ; Brown, Allison 1
Batting:
2B: Bell 1 ; Ala. Falcon 1
3B: Griggs 1
RBI: Andrews 1 ; B. Landry 1 ; Jaquish 1 ; Simmons 1 ; Ala. Falcon 1
SF: Andrews 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Andrews 1 ; Bell 2 ; Ala. Falcon 1 ; Griggs 1
SB: Andrews 1
CS: B. Landry 1
