After running into a little trouble in the first two innings, Ole Miss pitcher Cade Townsend found his mojo. Townsend fanned eight LSU batters in a six-inning outing to help propel the Rebels to a 12-2, run-rule victory over their rivals from Baton Rouge. Coupled with the Rebels victory over the Tigers on Friday night, Ole Miss took the series over LSU for the first time since the national title season of 2022.
What allowed Townsend to settle in after the first couple of innings? It was his puncher’s-like metality.
“I think I got punched in the mouth in the first and second, and I was kind of expecting that,” said Townsend. “They changed their plan from yesterday. You’re going to have to punch a lot harder than that to get me out of the game. I kind of beared down…”
Townsend worked the LSU lineup. His final stat line read six scattered hit and just one walk to go alongside his eight Ks. After single runs crossed in the first and second innings, he turned the lights out on the Tigers.
“I think I kind of just got in a rhythm and kind of went from there,” he related. “It was nothing really with mechanics. I don’t really try to think about that. I just try to get the out and make the pitch.”
Ole Miss pitcher Cade Townsend hurls strikes versus LSU on Saturday.
Ole Miss sits on the verge of sweeping LSU in a game that is critical in the SEC pennant chase. The two tams meet again today at 1:30 p.m. CT. The game will be broadcast on the SEC Network+.
How big is the two-game start to this series for the Rebels?
“It’s huge. I think we really wanted to take the game today. We never try too win the game, we try to take the game, and we try to take their confident…and I think we did that today,” Townsend said.