The University of Mississippi Athletics
Game 1: Ole Miss 7, UNCW 2
2/24/2017 | Baseball, Blog
Last weekend, Ole Miss had to come from behind for all three wins in the series sweep. Tonight against UNC Wilmington, the Rebels jumped ahead in the second inning and never looked back. Ole Miss used four in the second while adding another run in the fifth and two more in the eighth to open the series with a 7-2 Friday night win. UNCW threatened in the seventh by adding two runs, but Dallas Woolfolk entered and shut the door on a bigger inning. Ole Miss' pitching was dominant throughout the game, allowing just three hits while fanning 10 batters against a very good Seahawk offense.Â
Player of the Game: David Parkinson. The junior sat down the first 12 batters he faced and by that time, the offense had supplied five runs. He had all four of his pitches working for him for most of the game, working six innings and allowing just one run. Outside of the seventh inning where he was pulled and allowed the one earned run, UNCW managed only one runner in scoring position. He once again pounded the strike zone, throwing 60 of his 95 pitches for strikes.Â
Key Moment: UNCW's starting pitcher Alex Royalty walked three batters in the second inning. Ole Miss made him pay for it. An RBI-walk from Cooper Johnson, an RBI-single from Grae Kessinger, a Ryan Olenek sac fly, and a Will Golsan RBI-single supplied the Rebels with a 4-0 lead that would never be relinquished.Â
Number of the Game: 3. On Friday nights against quality opponents, taking advantage of opportunities is obviously key. The Rebels had a runner reach third with less than two outs three times Friday night. All three times, Ole Miss brought him home. On the other hand, UNCW never managed a hit with runners on base (0-for-10).Â
Quotable: "David (Parkinson) was terrific, especially early," Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco said. "He got some help with them chasing his fastball, but his fastball had a lot of life tonight. He mixed four pitches into the strike zone much like he did last weekend and worked both sides of the plate. He looked like he was in control."
