The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss
36-16
UT Martin
18-27
Baseball Drops Midweek Contest to UT Martin
5/18/2021 | Baseball
Rebels Suffer First Home Midweek Loss in Regular-Season Home Finale
OXFORD, Miss. — No. 11 Ole Miss played uphill for the majority of Tuesday's final midweek matchup and failed to complete their rally. A trio home runs spoiled the Rebels' final regular season game at Swayze Field as UT Martin left Oxford with a 9-7 upset.
TJ McCants and Jacob Gonzalez each recorded two hits with the latter notching two RBI. Justin Bench added two RBI of his own along with a solo bomb attempting to come back in the eighth inning.
UT Martin recorded 12 hits in just its second win in the all-time series, five of them off starter Josh Mallitz in 1.1 inning of work. Cody Adcock and Brandon Johnson tied and surpassed their career long outings, respectively, with Johnson going 2.2 innings, striking out five and allowing one hit. Tyler Myers, Austin Miller and Wes Burton combined for three strikeouts and three hits allowed, capping off a challenging night.
The Skyhawks wasted little time getting on base with a first-pitch high chopper over the head of Mallitz and into no-man's land, but neither UT Martin or Ole Miss were able to score in the opening frame. UT Martin threatened again in the second with back-to-back singles off Mallitz but this time capitalized with a three-run home run by Noah Thigpen to go up 3-0.
Not long after, Adcock was called out of the Rebel bullpen to get out of a two-on, one-out situation. He did so immediately with a double play to set up the Rebel bats in the bottom half inning. Ole Miss was in position to take its first lead of the game with runners on second and third with no outs, but were only able to muster a run on a Ben Van Cleve single. The Rebels trailed 3-1 after two complete.
UT Martin widened the gap after a leadoff walk and another homer by Ethan Whitley to make it 5-1, Skyhawks. Cael Baker responded with a bomb of his own to left field while Gonzalez hit an RBI double to cut into the deficit, but the Skyhawks retained their lead with Kevin Graham and Justin Bench retired. After the third inning, UT Martin led 5-3.
The Skyhawks added runs for the third consecutive inning with a Casey Harford RBI double, making it 6-3 with Johnson coming out of the Rebel bullpen. UT Martin later loaded the bases, but Johnson struck out Blake Davis to escape the jam. Nick Wohlbold responded by going 1-2-3 through the Ole Miss order en route to the fifth inning, where Ole Miss had a golden opportunity in front of it.
A couple of free passes and a McCants single loaded the bases with no outs. Gonzalez knocked in Baker for another run while a Peyton Chatagnier scored following a throwing error. Gonzalez later scored to tie the game up 6-6 going into the sixth inning. Johnson gave up a double and nothing else on the mound, but the Rebels couldn't capitalize offensively, stranding Hayden Dunhurst and Hayden Leatherwood going into the seventh inning.
Both Myers and UT Martin's Eric Steensma went 1-2-3 through the opposing order, in the seventh, but the Rebels found trouble in the eighth. Myers allowed a single and a rare walk to place runners on first and second, Miller was called out of the Rebel bullpen was called to get out of the situation with one out in the top of the eighth. Two pitches in, Blake Daniels blasted a three-run homer to retake a three-run lead. Bench immediately cut into the deficit with a leadoff homer to left field off Skyhawk closer David Hussey. The Rebels added another hit courtesy of a rocket single to left-center by pinch-hitter Tim Elko, but the Rebels couldn't cash in.
Chatagnier delivered a single in the ninth, but Hussey delivered the final three outs without issue to secure the upset win on the road.
The Rebels will cap off the 2021 regular season with a SEC series at the Georgia Bulldogs beginning Thursday, May 20. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. CT and can be seen on SEC Network+ or listened to on the Ole Miss Radio Network.
Quick Hits
⁃ The Rebels drop to 36-16 overall and finish 11-2 in midweek games
⁃ Ole Miss finishes the 2021 regular season 27-9 at Swayze Field
⁃ The Rebels fall to 18-2 all-time against UT Martin
⁃ Kevin Graham extended his on-base streak to 45 consecutive games, reaching in 50 of 52 games this season
⁃ Hayden Dunhurst's throw-out to second base in the 1st inning took the SEC lead in that category (18)
⁃ Cody Adcock tied a season high 2.0 IP
⁃ Brandon Johnson had career highs in IP (2.2) and K's (5)
⁃ TJ McCants had his 17th multi-hit game of the season
⁃ Jacob Gonzalez had his 22nd multi-hit game, which leads the team
⁃ The Rebel pitching staff had their 36th game this season with 10-plus strikeouts and are on a five-game streak doing so
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: STEENSMA, Eric (1-2)
L: Myers, Tyler (3-2)
S: HUSSEY, David (6)
Batting:
2B: HARFORD, Casey 2 ; DAVIS, Blake 1
HR: DANIELS, Blake 1 ; WHITLEY, Ethan 1 ; THIGPEN, Noah 1
RBI: DANIELS, Blake 3 ; HARFORD, Casey 1 ; WHITLEY, Ethan 2 ; THIGPEN, Noah 3
SH: THIGPEN, Noah 1
Base Running:
RUNS: DANIELS, Blake 1 ; HALL, Christian 1 ; WHITLEY, Ethan 1 ; CULUMOVIC, Jack 1 ; SELF, Nate 2 ; THIGPEN, Noah 1 ; BEAMAN, Alec 2
CS: DANIELS, Blake 1
Batting:
2B: Gonzalez, Jacob 1
HR: Bench, Justin 1 ; Baker, Cael 1
RBI: Gonzalez, Jacob 2 ; Bench, Justin 2 ; Van Cleve, Ben 1 ; Baker, Cael 1
Base Running:
RUNS: McCants, TJ 1 ; Chatagnier, Peyton 1 ; Gonzalez, Jacob 1 ; Graham, Kevin 1 ; Bench, Justin 1 ; Baker, Cael 2
SB: McCants, TJ 1
CS: Bench, Justin 1
HBP: Chatagnier, Peyton 1 ; Dunhurst, Hayden 1
PO: Bench, Justin 1
