It was too little too late for No. 16 Auburn Thursday night at Swayze Field.
In what was a pivotal game one for SEC West division standings, Ole Miss hit two home runs in the first three innings off of Auburn starting pitcher Davis Daniel and never looked back, holding on to defeat the Tigers 5-4 in the first of a three-game weekend series in Oxford, Mississippi.
“We played a good baseball game," Auburn head coach Butch Thompson said. "We, probably in the last couple of weeks, have played worse and won a ballgame. We played well enough to win. So did Ole Miss. Ole Miss played a really good ballgame.”
In the first inning, Daniel looked to be in good form, striking out two of the first three batters he faced. However, Daniel's first mistake of the game was not missed. Ole Miss' Will Golsan hammered an elevated fastball over the left-field wall for a two-run homer, giving the Rebels' an early 2-0 lead.
The Tigers looked to respond in the top of the third inning, and were in prime position when Ole Miss starting pitcher Ryan Rolison walked back-to-back hitters to load the bases, after allowing a leadoff single to Luke Jarvis. Auburn, however, could not capitalize as Steven Williams struck out and Brett Wright grounded out for the final two outs in the inning. Missed opportunities haunted the Tigers all night, going 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position and 1-for-10 with runners on base.
“It’s the one more hit with a guy in scoring position, maybe catching one more ball. It was the one,” Thompson said. “We’ll have to regroup. Now, we can look at it and try to find your positive angles heading into tomorrow.
Daniel's struggles resurfaced in the bottom of the third, allowing another home run on another elevated pitch over the middle of the plate, this time a solo shot by Nick Fortes to deep left-center field giving the Rebels a 3-0 lead. Daniel would take the loss (3-4) allowing five runs on six hits in 5.0 innings pitched. Elliot Anderson, Calvin Coker, and Andrew mitchell combined to hold the Rebels scoreless for the final 3.0 innings.
A Steven Williams solo home run was all the Tigers could muster until the top of the seventh inning. After loading the bases and chasing Rolison from the game, Williams blooped a weak liner up the middle that was bobbled and then thrown away by the Rebels' shortstop Grae Kessinger. Two runs would score on the error, making it 5-4 entering the bottom half of the inning.
Brendan Venter narrowly missed a game-tying home run in the eighth inning when his ball bounced off the top of the right-field wall for a double, stranding him at second. As it was the majority of the night, the Tigers could not complete the comeback, going scoreless the final two innings.
The Tigers fall to 35-15 overall, and 13-12 in the SEC, while Ole Miss improves to 37-13 and 14-11 in conference play. Both teams are still in contention for a top-4 seed and a first-round bye in the SEC baseball tournament which starts May 22 in Hoover, Alabama.
All-american Casey Mize will take the mound for the Tigers Friday night in game two. First pitch will be at 6:30 p.m. CT on SECN+ and WatchESPN.
“You got Casey Mize going for you on the mound and you almost got something done here and you played a really close, competitive ballgame. Hopefully, we’ll come out guns a blazing with our best guy on the mound tomorrow.”
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