The University of Mississippi Athletics
Friday, March 22
Columbia, Mo.
6 PM
Ole Miss
1
at
2
Missouri
Baseball Drops Tight Friday Night Fight in Columbia
3/22/2019 | Baseball
Ole Miss and Mizzou Game 2 Set for 2 p.m. CT Saturday
COLUMBIA, Mo. – Ole Miss baseball dropped a tight Friday night battle at Missouri, falling 2-1 to open its first SEC road series of the season.
Starter Will Ethridge came through with another excellent performance, going 5.2 innings with just one earned run allowed and five strikeouts. Austin Miller was outstanding in relief as well, turning in 2.1 scoreless innings, allowing just three Tigers to reach base. The tremendous effort on the mound just wasn't quite enough on a night when runs were scarce.
In the first, Ole Miss placed runners on the corners with one down after back-to-back base hits by Grae Kessinger and Tyler Keenan, but the Rebels couldn't bring one home. In the bottom half, Ethridge opened things up with back-to-back strikeouts, but the home team rallied with consecutive base hits and pushed one run across on a fielding error to take a 1-0 lead.
Mizzou attempted another two-out rally in the second after a base hit by Clayton Peterson and another by Josh Holt Jr. On Holt's hit, Peterson was wheeled around from first, but a relay from Anthony Servideo to Jacob Adams to Cooper Johnson pegged Peterson at the plate for the third out.
The two squads went down in order in the third and fourth innings before Ole Miss knotted it up in the fifth. Cole Zabowski started it off with a single to right, and a wild pitch and a sacrifice bunt by Johnson moved him over to third, setting the table for an RBI base hit by freshman Knox Loposer to tie it at one.
Missouri got it right back in the bottom half with base hits up the left and right field lines to make it a 2-1 game. With a runner on second and one out, the Rebels intentionally walked Kameron Misner, and it paid off. Ethridge fanned Peter Zimmerman and got an easy groundout to Adams at second to escape the inning.
The Tigers nearly extended their lead in the sixth after a walk and a single. With two on and two out, Miller came on in relief of Ethridge and struck out the first batter he faced to escape the jam. Miller was electric from then on out, holding Missouri scoreless in the seventh and eighth innings.
Facing a one-run deficit in the ninth, Ole Miss attempted a late comeback after a leadoff single by Ryan Olenek. Freshman Josh Hall came on and swiped his fifth career base to move into scoring position, but Zabowski went down on strikes and Johnson lined out on a hard-hit ball to third base to end the game.
GAME 2 TIME CHANGE
Due to inclement weather in the forecast tomorrow evening, Saturday's Game 2 between the Rebels and Tigers has been moved to 2 p.m. CT.
Freshman Doug Nikhazy will get his first career weekend start, matching up with Mizzou's TJ Sikkema.
Starter Will Ethridge came through with another excellent performance, going 5.2 innings with just one earned run allowed and five strikeouts. Austin Miller was outstanding in relief as well, turning in 2.1 scoreless innings, allowing just three Tigers to reach base. The tremendous effort on the mound just wasn't quite enough on a night when runs were scarce.
In the first, Ole Miss placed runners on the corners with one down after back-to-back base hits by Grae Kessinger and Tyler Keenan, but the Rebels couldn't bring one home. In the bottom half, Ethridge opened things up with back-to-back strikeouts, but the home team rallied with consecutive base hits and pushed one run across on a fielding error to take a 1-0 lead.
Mizzou attempted another two-out rally in the second after a base hit by Clayton Peterson and another by Josh Holt Jr. On Holt's hit, Peterson was wheeled around from first, but a relay from Anthony Servideo to Jacob Adams to Cooper Johnson pegged Peterson at the plate for the third out.
The two squads went down in order in the third and fourth innings before Ole Miss knotted it up in the fifth. Cole Zabowski started it off with a single to right, and a wild pitch and a sacrifice bunt by Johnson moved him over to third, setting the table for an RBI base hit by freshman Knox Loposer to tie it at one.
Missouri got it right back in the bottom half with base hits up the left and right field lines to make it a 2-1 game. With a runner on second and one out, the Rebels intentionally walked Kameron Misner, and it paid off. Ethridge fanned Peter Zimmerman and got an easy groundout to Adams at second to escape the inning.
The Tigers nearly extended their lead in the sixth after a walk and a single. With two on and two out, Miller came on in relief of Ethridge and struck out the first batter he faced to escape the jam. Miller was electric from then on out, holding Missouri scoreless in the seventh and eighth innings.
Facing a one-run deficit in the ninth, Ole Miss attempted a late comeback after a leadoff single by Ryan Olenek. Freshman Josh Hall came on and swiped his fifth career base to move into scoring position, but Zabowski went down on strikes and Johnson lined out on a hard-hit ball to third base to end the game.
GAME 2 TIME CHANGE
Due to inclement weather in the forecast tomorrow evening, Saturday's Game 2 between the Rebels and Tigers has been moved to 2 p.m. CT.
Freshman Doug Nikhazy will get his first career weekend start, matching up with Mizzou's TJ Sikkema.
Players Mentioned
IF
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
C
/ Baseball
IF
/ Baseball
IF
/ Baseball
C
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
LHP/OF
/ Baseball
IF/OF/RHP
/ Baseball
IF
/ Baseball
IF
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