March 3, 2012

Box Score

OXFORD, Miss. - R.J. Hively worked 6.0 innings of two-hit baseball and held the Redhawks scoreless in his time on the mound as No. 16 Ole Miss (8-2) pounded out 18 hits on the way to an 11-3 win over Miami (OH) (4-4) on Saturday.

The win evened the weekend series with the Redhawks and sets up a rubber match game on Sunday at 1:30 p.m.

Hively (2-0) picked up his second straight win, working 6.0 innings and holding Miami to two hits with a walk and seven strikeouts. Blair Wright and Jon Andy Scott closed out the final 3.0 innings for the Rebels on the way to the win.

Brooks Fiala (1-2) suffered the loss for the Redhawks as he allowed six runs on seven hits in 1.2 innings of work.

Ten Rebels recorded hits on the afternoon, with eight of them notching multiple hits in the outing. Alex Yarbrough (3-for-5) and Zach Kirksey (2-for-3) led the way offensively. Kirksey notched three RBI, including his third home run of the season with a solo shot in the second, while Yarbrough added two RBI on the afternoon.

"I'm proud of the way we came out and played after not playing well yesterday," said Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco. "When you lose on Friday night, you have to respond well on Saturday to even the series. Hively was tremendous. He really located the slider. It was big for the offense to come out and score six runs in the first two innings. It gave us a little bit of separation. That made everything a little easier out there.

"Knight was terrific in his first college start," Bianco continued. "Hively is probably the most difficult to catch of all of the guys just because his fastball sinks and dives so much. When he throws his four-seam ball it cuts a little bit and when he throws his two-seam ball it goes the other way and sinks down. Austin really did a great job of receiving and executing."

Ole Miss got off to a quick start, scoring three runs in the first inning. Tanner Mathis was hit by a pitch and Senquez Golson singled to left before Yarbrough came up with a two-RBI double to get the scoring started for the Rebels. Yarbrough then scored on a wild pitch two batters later for the 3-0 lead.

The Rebels added three more runs in the second with a rally that was started by a lead-off home run from Kirksey. Austin Anderson reached on a single and scored on a single to center from Knight that included a fielding error on the play that saw Anderson score from first base. Knight came home two batters later on a single from Auston Bousfield and Ole Miss held a 6-0 lead.

Ole Miss added a single run in the fifth inning on a single from Kirksey, before adding a sac fly from Kirksey and a single to right from Knight to push two more runs home and make the score 9-1.

Miami got on the board in the eighth inning, using a two-out double from Kevin Bower to score Bryce Redeker. Redeker had singled in the previous at bat.

John Gatlin then notched his first career hit for the Rebels in the home half of the eighth, sending a two-RBI double to the wall in right center to drive in Yarbrough and Preston Overbey to take the lead out to 11-1.

The Redhawks closed out the scoring with a pair of unearned runs in the ninth, capitalizing on a fielding error and a two-out single from Ryan Brenner to cut the lead to the final score of 11-3.

Ole Miss and Miami will play the final game of the series at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday at Oxford-University Stadium/Swayze Field.