The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss
27-10
Little Rock
16-17
No. 9 Baseball Breezes Past Little Rock
4/20/2021 | Baseball
Rebels Rack Up 13 Hits, Strike Out 17 Trojans in 11-6 Victory
OXFORD, Miss. — No. 9 Ole Miss baseball took care of business Tuesday night as the Rebels pulled away late and knocked off the Little Rock Trojans 11-6 at Swayze Field for their fifth straight midweek victory.
Kevin Graham led the way with another solid offensive outing, going 3-for-4 at the plate with two RBI all while extending his on-base streak to 30 consecutive games. Peyton Chatagnier went 2-for-5 with a team high three runs scored. John Rhys Plumlee had his first career multi-hit game, going 2-for-2 and reached base in all four of his plate appearances.
The Ole Miss pitching staff shared the grub on the mound, using eight pitchers with Jack Dougherty making his first career start. Dougherty pitched 1.2 innings and struck out three batters with two hits given up. Tyler Myers, Cody Adcock, Brandon Jonson, Jackson Kimbrell, Breden Forsyth, Wes Burton and Derek Diamond made their way to the mound on Tuesday with Kimbrell finishing with the win (4-0). The bullpen combined for 15 strikeouts as every Rebel pitcher struck out two or more batters.
The Trojans threatened right off the bat when Nathan Lyons hit a 1-2 leadoff triple that landed just beyond the diving reach of Hayden Leatherwood in right field. However, it wouldn't take long for Dougherty to settle in with consecutive strikeouts while a fly out to Plumlee ended the opening frame.
TJ McCants started things off for the Rebels with a leadoff single. After walking Chatagnier and beaning Jacob Gonzalez, the Trojans faced a bases loaded situation with no outs. The visitors immediately brought in a new arm out of the bullpen in Cole Evans to replace Chance Vaught. On the very next pitch, Graham got the Rebels on the board with a two-RBI double. Leatherwood added to that lead not long after with a sac fly that scored Gonzalez and made it a 3-0 Rebel lead going into the second inning.
Despite giving up two walks, Dougherty was close to making it out of the inning unscathed until Christian Bernabe's two-RBI double down the left field line gave Little Rock a one-run deficit and brought Myers out of the Rebel bullpen.
The Rebels would counter in the bottom of the second inning. After a leadoff walk to Knox Loposer, Plumlee doubled down the left field line and put runners on second and third with no outs. Chatagnier brought them both home with his two-RBI single while Gonzalez doubled off the right center wall, making it a 6-2 Rebel lead. Ole Miss had the bases loaded again after Graham's single and Leatherwood's walk, but Evans retired the side with a strikeout of Kemp Alderman.
Eldridge Figueroa led off the third inning with a single and later scored off a Kenny Rodriguez double, while new Trojan pitcher Dillon Delgadillo retired three of four Rebel batters. With Adcock out of the Rebel bullpen, the Trojans again had two runners on with two singles but couldn't cash in. In the bottom half of the fourth, Chatagnier and Graham singled to put two on with one out, with the former scoring to make it a 7-3 ball game after a fielding error.
The Trojans continued to chip away at the deficit in the top of the fifth. With two outs and Johnson on the mound, back-to-back singles from John Michael Russ and Tim Dixon set up Kobe Barnum with a two-RBI double to left center to cut the Rebel lead to 7-5. Zane Neves came out to pitch for Little Rock in the bottom half of the inning but was quickly replaced by Cal Beardsley after Loposer and Plumlee both reached via free pass with no outs. Beardsley retired the next three batters en route to the sixth inning.
Kimbrell came out of the Rebel bullpen and went 1-2-3 through the Trojan order on just nine pitches while Beardsley returned the favor for Little Rock. In the bottom of the seventh inning, Alderman got his first career hit while his pinch runner Cade Sammons eventually scored off a Loposer double to make it 8-5 Rebels. After a Plumlee single, Jack DeCooman came out of the Trojan bullpen and issued a walk to McCants, loading the bases with no outs. A Gonzalez sac fly scored Loposer while Cael Baker's two-RBI single as a pinch hitter scored two more to give Ole Miss an 11-5 lead.
Burton came in to pitch for the Rebels to begin the eighth inning and loaded the bases with one out. A walk to Figueroa allowed Barnum to score with ease to make it a five-run game. Burton struck out the next two batters to stop the bleeding. Ole Miss would not be denied the rest of the way with Derek Diamond getting the final three outs.
The Rebels will now turn their attention to playing host to the LSU Tigers on Thursday, April 22, to begin a string of six straight SEC home games. First pitch is set for 7 p.m. CT and can be seen on ESPNU or listened to on the Ole Miss Radio Network.
Quick Hits
⁃ The Rebels move to 27-10 overall, 9-1 in midweek games.
⁃ Ole Miss moves to 19-5 all-time against Little Rock.
⁃ Jack Dougherty made his first career start on the mound.
⁃ Kemp Alderman made his first plate appearance with his first career start and notched his first collegiate hit.
⁃ Peyton Chatagnier started a third base for the first time this season.
⁃ TJ McCants hit leadoff for the first time this season.
⁃ Kevin Graham extended his on-base streak to 30 consecutive games.
⁃ John Rhys Plumlee had his first multi-hit game of his career.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Kimbrell, Jackson (4-0)
L: Vaught, Chance (0-1)
Batting:
2B: Rodriguez, Kenny 1 ; Barnum, Kobe 1 ; Bernabe, Christian 1
3B: Lyons, Nathan 1
RBI: Figueroa, Eldrige 1 ; Rodriguez, Kenny 1 ; Barnum, Kobe 2 ; Bernabe, Christian 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Figueroa, Eldrige 1 ; Russ, John Michael 2 ; Dixon, Tim 1 ; Barnum, Kobe 2
SB: Rodriguez, Kenny 1
HBP: Rodriguez, Kenny 1 ; Bernabe, Christian 1
Batting:
2B: Gonzalez, Jacob 1 ; Graham, Kevin 1 ; Loposer, Knox 1 ; Plumlee, John Rhys 1
RBI: Chatagnier, Peyton 2 ; Gonzalez, Jacob 2 ; Graham, Kevin 2 ; Baker, Cael 2 ; Leatherwood, Hayden 1 ; Loposer, Knox 1
SF: Gonzalez, Jacob 1 ; Leatherwood, Hayden 1
Base Running:
RUNS: McCants, TJ 2 ; Chatagnier, Peyton 3 ; Gonzalez, Jacob 1 ; Sammons, Cade 1 ; Loposer, Knox 2 ; Plumlee, John Rhys 2
SB: Plumlee, John Rhys 1
CS: Plumlee, John Rhys 1
HBP: Gonzalez, Jacob 1 ; Loposer, Knox 1
