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Entering the College World Series, Ole Miss baseball had not lost a game in the NCAA Tournament.
As an unseeded team, the Rebels had gone 5-0 through the Lincoln Regional and Auburn Super Regional.
However, when the Rebels took the field against Troy at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha, Nebraska, on June 14, they found themselves in an unfamiliar position coming off a loss to North Carolina in their CWS opener.
For the first time in this year’s NCAA Tournament, Ole Miss was challenged with having to bounce back from defeat. With their season on the line, the Rebels failed to deliver, losing 12-8 to the Trojans.
It all started to go wrong for Ole Miss (41-23) in the fifth inning with the Rebels up 6-2.
With two singles and walk, Troy (39-31) loaded the bases with two outs. Starting pitcher Hunter Elliott, facing his first bases-loaded jam of the game, fell victim to the crowd noise and balked in a run while trying to manage his pitchcom. The Rebels’ lead shrunk to three runs.
The at-bat continued, and Troy’s Sean Darnell hit a single that scored two more runs, ending Elliott’s day after 4⅔ innings. Ole Miss had been 7-0 in NCAA Tournament games that Elliott started over his career.
The Ole Miss bullpen did not fare any better.
In the seventh, Troy’s Jimmy Janicki homered to start a four-run inning, putting the Rebels behind for the first time in the game.
Troy didn’t stop there, adding three more runs in the eighth. Blake Cavill led off the inning with a solo home run.
Two runs scored on an infield popup that neither third baseman Judd Utermark nor shortstop Owen Paino could properly track due to the sun. Paino got underneath it but couldn’t haul in the catch.
The back half of the game was a complete turnaround from the first half. The Rebels got on the board first with RBI hits by Utermark and Hayden Federico in the first inning.
Even after Darnell answered with a two-run home run in the top of the second, Ole Miss again jumped in front thanks to Brayden Randle’s two-run homer in the bottom half of the inning. Collin Reuter added two more runs with a home run in the fourth.
Ole Miss was limited to two runs the rest of the way: Austin Fawley’s RBI-single in the seventh and Will Furniss’ solo home run in the eighth.
Tia Reid covers Jackson State sports for the Clarion Ledger. Email her at [email protected] and follow her on X @tiareid65.
This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: How Ole Miss baseball fell apart vs Troy in College World Series
Continue reading...
As an unseeded team, the Rebels had gone 5-0 through the Lincoln Regional and Auburn Super Regional.
However, when the Rebels took the field against Troy at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha, Nebraska, on June 14, they found themselves in an unfamiliar position coming off a loss to North Carolina in their CWS opener.
For the first time in this year’s NCAA Tournament, Ole Miss was challenged with having to bounce back from defeat. With their season on the line, the Rebels failed to deliver, losing 12-8 to the Trojans.
It all started to go wrong for Ole Miss (41-23) in the fifth inning with the Rebels up 6-2.
With two singles and walk, Troy (39-31) loaded the bases with two outs. Starting pitcher Hunter Elliott, facing his first bases-loaded jam of the game, fell victim to the crowd noise and balked in a run while trying to manage his pitchcom. The Rebels’ lead shrunk to three runs.
The at-bat continued, and Troy’s Sean Darnell hit a single that scored two more runs, ending Elliott’s day after 4⅔ innings. Ole Miss had been 7-0 in NCAA Tournament games that Elliott started over his career.
The Ole Miss bullpen did not fare any better.
In the seventh, Troy’s Jimmy Janicki homered to start a four-run inning, putting the Rebels behind for the first time in the game.
Troy didn’t stop there, adding three more runs in the eighth. Blake Cavill led off the inning with a solo home run.
Two runs scored on an infield popup that neither third baseman Judd Utermark nor shortstop Owen Paino could properly track due to the sun. Paino got underneath it but couldn’t haul in the catch.
The back half of the game was a complete turnaround from the first half. The Rebels got on the board first with RBI hits by Utermark and Hayden Federico in the first inning.
Even after Darnell answered with a two-run home run in the top of the second, Ole Miss again jumped in front thanks to Brayden Randle’s two-run homer in the bottom half of the inning. Collin Reuter added two more runs with a home run in the fourth.
Ole Miss was limited to two runs the rest of the way: Austin Fawley’s RBI-single in the seventh and Will Furniss’ solo home run in the eighth.
Tia Reid covers Jackson State sports for the Clarion Ledger. Email her at [email protected] and follow her on X @tiareid65.
This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: How Ole Miss baseball fell apart vs Troy in College World Series
Continue reading...
