OXFORD, Miss. – Little Rock battled ninth-ranked Ole Miss pitch for pitch through six innings Wednesday night as the two teams were deadlocked at 2-2 heading to the bottom of the seventh. But the Rebels scored four runs in both the seventh and eighth innings, handing the Trojans a 10-2 loss at Swayze Field.
Ole Miss struck first in the bottom of the third, scoring a pair of runs to take the 2-0 lead, but the Trojan pitching and defense kept the nation's number nine team off the scoreboard in five of the first six innings.
Trailing 2-0 in the top of the top of the sixth,
Matt Merino drilled a two run shot to left center, scoring
Riley Pittman in the process and tying the game at 2-2. It was the second-straight game Merino homered as he went 1-for-4 from the plate.
But the depth of the Trojan bullpen was tested in the late innings as 10 different Little Rock pitchers saw action against the Rebels, surrendering four runs each in the seventh and eighth innings to take the loss.
Justin Garcia was tagged with the loss, going 1.1 innings and allowing four runs on three hits in the seventh. Starter Ethan Dailey went 2.0 innings and allowed just one hit while
Donavin Buck was the only other Trojan to last more than an inning, pitching the third, fourth and fifth innings and allowing just one Rebel hit.
At the plate,
Nick Perez led the way for the Trojans, going 2-for-3 as five other players accounted for Little Rock's seven hits on the evening.
Little Rock now travels to Memphis, Tenn. to play the Memphis Tigers in a three-game series over the weekend at FedEx Park. Game one will be a night game
on Friday at
6:30 p.m. followed by game two
Saturday at
2 p.m. and then the series finale
Sunday 1 p.m.
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