OXFORD, MISS.- Ole Miss posted a 7-3 win over Georgia Friday in front of a crowd of 9,788 at Swayze Field.
In the seventh, Ole Miss second baseman Peyton Chatagnier broke a 3-3 tie with a solo home run and the Rebels (21-21, 3-16 SEC) added three insurance runs in the eighth for the final.
For the second straight game, Georgia (23-19, 7-12 SEC) missed numerous opportunities for a big inning and finished 2-15 with runners in scoring position. The Rebels walked eight and struck out 14 as the Bulldog stranded 12 on the night. On Tuesday, Georgia was 2-for-14 with runners in scoring position in a loss to Georgia State.
“We had guys in scoring position all night long, and we couldn’t get the big hit to break it open,” said Scott Stricklin. Their first baseman (Anthony) Calarco made a great play in one inning to keep us from a big inning. Bottom line, we didn’t play well enough to win. We made a couple errors, bobbled a few others and could’ve have had four or even five errors and just didn’t play very clean. I thought Luke Wagner pitched well enough to get the win. He gave us a chance coming in from Kolten (Smith) in the fourth.”
The Bulldog took a 2-0 lead in the second inning as Mason LaPlante and Ben Anderson collected an RBI apiece. The Rebels tied the game in the third as freshman Kolten Smith issued a pair of walks to start the bottom of the inning and Ole Miss registered a pair of stolen bases, a throwing error and a sacrifice fly by Jacob Gonzales and a run-scoring single by Ethan Lege. Ole Miss had a chance for more as Kemp Alderman laced a ball to the hot corner that third baseman Will David snagged a threw to second to complete an inning-ending double play. In the bottom of the fourth, Georgia turned to Wagner.
In the sixth, Georgia tied the game on a run-scoring double by Fernando Gonzalez. Georgia loaded the bases with one out but Rebel reliever Brayden Jones got Charlie Condon to bounce into a double play to keep it a tie contest.
Wagner (1-3) had allowed just two runs in four innings of work before leaving with the bases loaded in the eighth. Dalton Rhadans finished the game for the Bulldogs but not before the Rebels stretched their lead to 7-3. Ole Miss right-hander Mason Nichols picked up a win to even his record at 3-3 while Jack Doughtery pitched two scoreless frames with five strikeouts for this second save. Georgia turned three double plays on the night while the Rebles turned two.
Graduate Connor Tate finished 3-for-4 as the Bulldogs finished with nine hits.
Game two of the series will be Saturday, and it has been moved up to a 1 p.m. ET start. The game will be available on SEC Network+ and the Georgia Bulldog Sports Network.
