Walk-Off Hit Pushes #19 Ole Miss Past Little Rock

OXFORD, Miss. – A walk-off hit in the bottom of the 10th inning pushed No. 19 Ole Miss (16-9) past Little Rock baseball (9-16) by a score of 5-4 on Tuesday afternoon at Swayze Field.
 
Zach Baker led the Trojans' offense by going 2 for 5 with a home run and two RBIs. Cale Ridling was 1 for 2 with two RBIs and a run. Cameron Knight, Bryce Dimitroff, Dalton Thomas and Hunter Owens each tallied a hit. Owens advanced his hitting streak to seven games while Dimitroff upped his reached-base streak to eight games.
 
The Rebels plated the game's first run in the bottom of the second. With a runner on third, Cole Zabowski hit an RBI single through the right side to give Ole Miss the 1-0 lead.
 
With two outs and a runner on third in the bottom of the fifth, an RBI single up the middle by Ole Miss's Tate Blackman scored Nick Fortes to put the Rebels up 2-0.
 
Little Rock didn't score until the seventh inning, but the result was well worth the wait as the Trojans scored four runs with two outs to take a 4-2 lead over the Rebels. Knight got on with a one-out double before Nik Gifford walked with a full count. Both runners then advanced on a wild pitch with two outs. Ridling came on to pinch hit for the Trojans and delivered a two-run single through the left side. Baker cleared the bases as his third home run of the year ended up in the Ole Miss bullpen.
 
The Trojans' lead lasted just an inning as the Rebels knotted things up in the bottom of the eighth. With runners in scoring position, a walk loaded the bases before another walk cut Ole Miss's deficit to one. A third walk then plated the tying run for the Rebels. The Trojans finally got out of the inning with a force out at second.
 
Ole Miss threatened to win the game in the bottom of the ninth as a sacrifice bunt moved runners into scoring position with one out. McKinley Moore (0-1) came on in relief and got a popup and ground out to leave the potential game-winning run on third.
 
Houston Roth (1-0) came on for Ole Miss in the top of the 10th and struck out all three Little Rock batters. That momentum carried over into the bottom half of the inning as Ole Miss put runners in scoring position with two walks, a wild pitch and a stolen base. Michael Fitzsimmons came on to pinch hit for the Rebels and delivered the game-winning single to left field.
 
Little Rock will come home to begin an eight-game homestand on Friday as Appalachian State comes to town for a three-game series at Gary Hogan Field.