Ole Miss Splits Pair of Games with Arkansas State

OXFORD, Miss. – Fans of offense, beware, today's fall scrimmage against Arkansas State was dominated by stellar pitching performances on both sides of the ball. The Rebels' young pitching staff was able to stifle the bats of the Red Wolves, earning 15 strikeouts across 12 innings of play, while holding Arkansas State to just seven hits.

At the plate, however, the Rebels' found finding the gaps tough sledding, and were kept under wraps until some late-inning heroics from freshman Trey LaFleur, who delivered Ole Miss' only run of the day in the final inning of play with a solo home run to right field.

As a whole, the Rebels' split the day with Arkansas State in a pair of 1-0 matchups, with the Red Wolves taking the first six innings and Ole Miss claiming the second half.

In the game's first six-inning segment, Rebel pitchers dominated in keeping with the trend of the day, while the bats just failed to find holes around the diamond.

Sophomore Gunnar Hoglund set the pace early as the starting pitcher for the Rebels. He cruised through a seamless first inning, recording all three outs by himself with a trio of strikeouts. In the second, he allowed a pair of runners to reach on a single and a walk, but quickly minimized the damage with an inning-ending strikeout to close his outing.

Tyler Myers picked up right where Hoglund left off, coming in to work the third and fourth innings and shutting down the Red Wolves on par with Hoglund's dominant start. He totaled three strikeouts in the third, and although Arkansas State threatened an inning later, he worked his way out of it before handing the ball off to Greer Holston for the fifth.

Holston looked strong early in the frame, but worked his way into trouble with a pair of walks and a single to load the bases. With two outs, a single into right plated a run, but the defensive play of the day from freshman Trey LaFleur brought an abrupt end to the inning when he fielded the ball and launched a dart to home, beating the runner from second by a few steps to get the third out and allow Holston to escape.

Doug Nikhazy handled the last inning of the first six, and it didn't take long for the 2019 Freshman All-American to work through the Arkansas State lineup. He forced a weak groundout back to the pitcher, before working back-to-back strikeouts to close out the first half of the game today.

Offensively, there wasn't much working for the Rebels in the first six innings of play. The Ole Miss bats only mustered three hits, two of which came from first-year players. The first hit of the day didn't come until the third inning, when Ben Van Cleve launched a double off the wall in the right-center before he was stranded at second. Tyler Keenan reached on a single in the fourth, while freshman Peyton Chatagnier doubled in the sixth, but both were left standing on the basepath by the end of the inning.

The Rebels didn't exhaust all of their best arms in the game's first six innings, either. A second group of Ole Miss arms stepped right up and continued a dominating day on the mound in innings six through twelve. The Rebel pitching staff held Arkansas State to just two hits over the final six innings.

Freshman Derek Diamond led things off in the new set of innings, and set the tone early. He quickly worked back-to-back strikeouts to start off his outing, and closed the first with a flyout to left. Before he would exit after 2.0 IP, he would rack up one more strikeout, all while not allowing a hit from the Red Wolves offense.

Austin Miller, who just last year set the school record for appearances with 32 on the season, filled in for Diamond in innings three and four, and just like his predecessor, didn't allow an Arkansas State hit. He quickly worked through two innings, earning one strikeout and allowing just one baserunner to reach on a shortstop error.

The Red Wolves' first hit of the second six innings didn't come until early in the fifth, on a leadoff double against freshman Drew McDaniel. The runner would reach as far as third, but no further, as McDaniel did a terrific job of stranding him there with an inning-ending strikeout looking.
Taylor Broadway handled the final inning, a quick sixth that saw the senior work quickly through the Red Wolves order.

At the plate, the Rebels' only hit of the second-inning segment came from the bat of Anthony Servideo early in the first inning. That is, until Trey LaFleur stepped up to the plate in the bottom of the sixth. The freshman lifted a leadoff home run deep over the right-center wall, giving Ole Miss their only run of the day and allowing the Rebels to escape the second half with a victory over the Red Wolves.

The Rebels have several more intrasquad scrimmages before the penultimate matchup of the fall, the Pizza Bowl, arrives on Nov. 15. Ole Miss will also welcome the Memphis Tigers to Swayze Field on Oct. 26 for the second of two games against outside competition this fall.

All scrimmages are free and open to the public. For the full schedule, click here.

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.

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Players Mentioned

Taylor Broadway

Peyton Chatagnier

Derek Diamond

Gunnar Hoglund

Greer Holston

Tyler Keenan

Trey LaFleur

Drew McDaniel

Austin Miller

Tyler Myers

Doug Nikhazy

Anthony Servideo

Ben Van Cleve

The University of Mississippi Athletics