May 6, 2012

Box Score

OXFORD, Miss. – The Rebels rallied once to tie things up in the third inning, but LSU used a four home run day to pull away in the series finale as No. 24 Ole Miss (31-18, 11-13 SEC) fell to No. 4 LSU (38-11, 16-8 SEC) by a score of 12-3 on Sunday.

Matt Snyder added to his RBI total for the season with a two-RBI hit in the third inning to tie things up in the third-inning rally and Auston Bousfield hit his second home run in as many days with a solo shot in the seventh, but it was all the runs the Rebels would muster on the afternoon.

Dylan Chavez (3-4) took the loss for the Rebels, allowing three runs on four hits with a walk and a strikeout in 3.0 innings of work.

Aaron Nola (6-2) picked up the win for the Tigers as he allowed three runs on seven hits with two walks and two strikeouts in 7.0 innings of work.

“It was not a very good day for us on the mound and it was a very good day for them offensively,” said Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco. “We fell behind in counts, hit guys and walked guys.  They made us pay for it. Aaron Nola was so good for them on the mound.  He placed his pitches and you can see why he is going to be a great one for them. We did not get a ton of good swings or hit a lot of balls hard on a day where it seemed like the ball was really flying out.”

LSU struck first on Sunday with a two-RBI double with two outs from JaCoby Jones with the bases loaded in the second inning. The Tigers used a single, a hit batter and a walk to load the bags before Jones would come up with the two-out hit.

Ole Miss answered in the bottom of the third with a two-RBI single off the wall in right field from Snyder that scored Andrew Mistone and Alex Yarbrough. A walk of Mistone and a single from Yarbrough put the two men on before Snyder drove them both in with the ball driven to the wall in right field to tie the game at two.

LSU got a solo shot from Tyler Ross to open the third and move back into the lead. It sparked a five-run inning for the Tigers and was the first of a pair of two-home run innings for LSU on the afternoon. Austin Nola also hit a three-run shot in the fourth as a part of the Tigers first five-run frame.

A second two-home run inning in the sixth effectively put the game out of reach as LSU again pushed five runs home to take the lead out to 12-2. Mason Katz opened the inning with a solo shot before Ross would deliver a sac fly and JaCoby Jones added on a three-run shot.

Bousfield came up with his second home run of the series in the seventh inning when opened the frame with a ball driven over the wall in left to make it 12-3. The score would sit there the rest of the way as Ole Miss would manage four more hits, but hit into a pair of inning ending double plays over the final three frames.

Ole Miss will return to action on Friday when the Rebels host Tennessee in the first game of a three-game series at Oxford-University Stadium/Swayze. Friday night’s contest will begin at 6:30 p.m. with Saturday’s game at 4 p.m. on SportSouth and Sunday’s finale at 1:30 p.m.