The University of Mississippi Athletics
Rebels Edge Little Rock in Final Fall Exhibition
10/27/2018 | Baseball
Zabowski's 12th-Inning Homer Gives Ole Miss 6-5 Win
OXFORD, Miss. – It wasn't quite the offensive slugfest that managed to trounce Delta State a few weeks back in the last fall exhibition, but the Rebels found production where it was needed and managed to defeat Little Rock by a cumulative score of 6-5.
The Rebels took the first six-inning segment by a three-run margin, and pulled within two of the Trojans in the second game thanks in part to some late-game heroics by Cole Zabowski. The junior out of Lawrenceville, Georgia, slugged a two-run home run in the bottom of the 12th inning to send the home team ahead 6-5. The Rebel first baseman was by far the team's most productive bat in the lineup today, going 3-for-3 with a home run, four RBI, and two runs.
Zabowski was the only batter with a multi-hit day for the Rebels, who notched 10 hits over twelve innings.
In the first half of the 12-inning exhibition, it was the combined efforts of Will Ethridge, Houston Roth, and Zack Phillips that carried the Rebels to a 3-0 shutout victory. The trio managed to silence the Trojan bats and combined to allow just four hits while also striking out four.
Ethridge, who head coach Mike Bianco called "terrific" at the conclusion of the 12-inning affair, led off the pitching rotation for the Rebels, and went 2.0 innings, earning one strikeout while allowing two hits. Roth was perhaps the team's most effective arm on the mound today, likewise going 2.0 innings, striking out three and allowing just two baserunners.
At the plate, Ole Miss needed minimal production from its bats to match the stellar production of its pitchers, and they found it early. The first three batters of the day all came around to score the first segment's only three runs. The Rebels sent five batters to the plate before the Trojans even managed a single out, and got the run production from Zabowski, Dillard, and Keenan, who went back-to-back-to-back with a trio of RBI singles.
It would be eight innings before the Rebels sent another runner across the plate, in the fourth inning of the second game, when Zabowski's second RBI of the day plated Grae Kessinger on an RBI single up the middle. The Rebels were having trouble matching the offensive production of the Trojans, who led 5-1 heading into the final inning, when Zabowski again stepped up to the challenge.
After Ryan Olenek reached on a leadoff walk, Zabowski made them pay immediately, and hammered a ball over the right-center wall to catapult the Rebels over the Trojans for the two games combined.
On the mound in the second half, Ole Miss was effective at times but struggled to match the intensity brought in the first half. Freshman Gunnar Hoglund led things off, going two scoreless innings, before fellow freshman Doug Nikhazy went two more while allowing just one run.
Kaleb Hill had the most impressive line save for one pitch, a three-run home run that gave the Trojans their second lead of the day. The freshman did, however, lead the team in strikeouts with three in just one inning on the mound.
The Rebels will play one more intrasaquad scrimmage, tomorrow at 5:30 p.m. CT, before wrapping up the fall season with the annual Pizza Bowl, set for Friday, November 2.
For all Ole Miss Baseball news and information, visit the official athletics site OleMissSports.com. For more social media updates, follow the Rebels on Twitter at @OleMissBSB, on Facebook at Ole Miss Baseball and on Instagram at olemissbsb.
