| Sixth-Ranked Rebels Fall To Mercer 13-11 At Coca Cola Classic | ||||||||||
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MOBILE, Ala. – Brett Basham went 3-for-5 at the plate with a three-run home run – one of two Rebel home runs on the afternoon – but it wasn’t enough as No. 6 Ole Miss (1-1) fell to Mercer (1-1) by a score of 13-11 on Saturday.
The Rebels out hit the Bears, but Mercer capitalized on three Ole Miss errors to remain within striking distance before pulling ahead late to grab the win. Rory McKean (0-1) suffered the loss for the Rebels as he worked 1.2 innings in relief and allowed three runs on five hits with one strikeout. Starter Chris Corrigan worked 3.0 innings and allowed six runs – five earned – on five hits with one walk and a strikeout. Reliever John Hoelzer (1-0) got the win for the Bears as he worked 2.1 innings and held the Rebels hitless and kept Ole Miss off the board as he walked two and struck out one. Blake Mainor picked up the save for the Bears as he worked the final 2.0 innings and held Ole Miss to only two hits. “We just couldn’t get an out,” said Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco. “They (Mercer) were really locked in and got some good swings off. They were just too good offensively. Yesterday our bullpen did a good job of locking things down, but today they couldn’t command the game. It was a great offensive day, but as a staff our pitchers have to follow a good offensive inning by holding the other team off the board. We didn’t do that today” Ole Miss got on the board in the second inning when Evan Button doubled down the left field line, driving in Logan Power and Taylor Hashman. Power singled to left before moving to second on a four-pitch walk of Hashman. A fly out to center from Zach Miller moved Button to third before an RBI single to right field from Brett Basham extended the lead to 3-0. The Bears scored in the bottom half of the frame when Michael Langley hit a double to left center that a sprinting Jordan Henry couldn’t quite catch up to. The hit scored Casey Stuart from second and put runners at second and third with Nick DiMauro moving to third on the play. Stuart reached on a single and moved to second when DiMauro was hit by a pitch. A groundout to short from Jacob Tanis scored DiMauro and pulled Mercer within one at 3-2 before Corrigan got the Rebels out of the inning with a groundout from Billy Burns. Logan Power grounded out to third to score Jeremy Travis in the third inning and push the Rebel lead back out to two. Travis opened the inning with a double before taking third on a groundout to short from Matt Smith. Ole Miss extended the lead in the fourth off an RBI double from Jordan Henry that scored Miller from third. Miller singled to open the inning and moved to second on a balk. He then took third on a groundout to short from Basham. Mercer used a big fourth inning – scoring four runs on an error and four hits – to take the lead in the game as the Bears got to Rebel starter Chris Corrigan. The Rebels went to the bullpen for left-hander Brett Bukvich, who got Ole Miss out of the inning trailing by only one run at 6-5. Just as quickly as they fell behind, the Rebels got back in the lead with a two-run home run from Logan Power in the top of the fifth. Matt Smith opened the inning with a single before the Power home run. The Rebels added a second home run a few batters later as Basham came up with a three-run shot to left field to push Ole Miss up 10-6. A walk of Henry and a triple from Travis pushed the Rebels in front 11-6 and sent Mercer to the bullpen for the second time as John Hoelzer entered the game. He got Matt Smith to line out to center field to end the inning, but the Rebels held a five run lead. Mercer rallied in the bottom half of the inning, taking advantage of two Rebel errors – one a called catcher’s interference – and two hits to push three runs across and trim the Ole Miss lead to two at 11-9. The Bears cut the lead to one in the sixth as John Moreland hit a solo shot to right center with two outs to cut the lead to 11-10. Mercer tied things at 11 in the seventh on a two-out single from Tyler McCartney that scored Tanis from second. Tanis singled before taking second on a sac bunt from Moreland. With two on and two out, the Rebels turned to the bullpen and David Goforth, but a walk to the first batter loaded the bags for the Bears. A second walk pushed the go-ahead run across for the Bears as Mercer took a 12-11 lead on the Rebels. Goforth coaxed Stuart into a fly out to center to end the inning, but the Bears had reclaimed the lead. Mercer extended the lead with a two-out solo shot in the eighth from Tanis that gave the Bears the 13-11 edge. Ole Miss put two men on in the top of the ninth, but couldn’t manage a final rally as Mercer claimed the game. The Rebels will close out the 2009 Coca Cola Classic against host South Alabama at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday. The game will be broadcast on the full radio network across the state of Mississippi. |
Courtesy: University of Mississippi
