After winning an extra inning thriller to open conference play Friday night, Ole Miss was unable to capture that same energy on Saturday in Austin and lost 11-2 to Texas. With the loss the Rebels fall to 16-4 on the season and are 1-1 in the SEC.
The game didn’t start how the Rebels had hoped, with Texas quickly going ahead by two after loading the bases in the bottom of the first. Cade Townsend, who started on the mound for Ole Miss, was taken out of the game in the second inning, dealing with a shoulder injury.
The Rebels looked like they were getting poised to mount a comeback from the 2-0 deficit, tying the game up in the top of the third. Hayden Federico singled and Dom Decker reached on an infield ground ball with an error by the pitcher, both of them were able to come home despite Ole Miss not getting another hit in the inning.
The Rebels were 0-18 on the day with runners on base, which ultimately led to a lack of run production. On the defensive side, Ole Miss walked seven batters on the day and allowed Texas to go 11-25 with runners on base and gave up a season high eleven runs.
When Townsend left due to injury, Grayson Gibson took the mound for the Rebels. Gibson went 2.1 innings, giving up two runs on one hit and striking out one while walking one and collecting the loss. In the bottom of the fourth JP Robertson came on to pitch for the Rebels, he went 1.2 innings giving up two runs on two hits and issuing two walks.
In the fourth inning, Tristan Bissetta hit a double to left-center and advanced to third on a Tate Sirmans fly out to right. Bissetta would be thrown out after attempting to steal home on a ball outside where it appeared the Rebels had called a bunt-and-run.
Marko Sipila took the mound for the Rebels in the sixth inning after the first two batters reached, going two-thirds of an inning and giving up one run on two hits. Owen Kelly came on to get the final out of the sixth, Kelly went two-thirds of an inning and gave up four runs on four hits.
In the seventh Owen Hancock came on to pitch with one down in the inning, Hancock did not give up a run in his 1.2 innings pitched and struck out a batter while issuing one walk.
Next Up
The Rebels face off against the Longhorns in the rubber match of their SEC opening weekend series tomorrow at 1:30 PM. The game will be available for streaming on the SEC Network+. Ole Miss will be back in action at Swayze on Tuesday, taking on Austin Peay at 6:30 PM.
