OXFORD, Miss.-No. 17 Ole Miss
jumped out to an early lead and got a solid pitching performance from Aaron
Barrett as the Rebels defeated ULM 14-0 to even the three-game weekend series
at one game each. The Warhawks won the opener 6-5 on Friday as they handed the
Rebels their first opening day loss since 1981.
The Rebels pushed three runs
across in the second, six in the third and three in the fourth to stake a 12-0
lead. ULM held them scoreless over the fifth, sixth and seventh innings before
a bases loaded walk and an error pushed across two more runs in the eighth.
David Phillips, who finished
the game 2-for-2 with three RBIs, homered in the second and Matt Smith and Matt
Synder hit back-to-back homers in the third to pace Ole Miss' (1-1) offensive
attack.
Barrett (1-0) yielded just a
pair of hits and struck out seven Warhawk batters over six innings of scoreless
work to pick up the victory for the Rebels. He combined with Eric Callender to
hand the Warhawks their first shutout loss since 2007.
Luke Briley pitched well for
the Warhawks out of the bullpen not allowing a hit over 1.1 innings of work
before handing the ball off to John McDermid to pitch the eighth inning.
Nick Wade led ULM at the plate going 2-for-4 on the afternoon. Perry Smith and
Kelvin York each had one hit for the Warhawks as they lost for just the
second time in their last five games against a Southeastern Conference
opponent.
Josh Miller (0-1) was tagged
with the loss for the Warhawks (1-1) after he was charged with eight runs on
six hits over 2.1 innings of work. He finished with three strikeouts and a pair
of walks.
The teams will play the rubber
game of the series Sunday afternoon at 1:30 p.m. The Warhawks will send senior
right-hander Corey Brown the bump and the Rebels will counter with junior
right-hander Trent Rothlin.
The game will be broadcast
live in northeast Louisiana on 540 AM and worldwide on the internet at
ulmwarhawks.com.
