Ole Miss rallies in eighth inning to win opener vs. No. 3 Texas A&M
OXFORD — Ole Miss scored two runs in the bottom of the eighth inning Friday night to take the lead against No. 3 Texas A&M — capped off by senior center fielder Ethan Groff’s go-ahead sacrifice fly — as the Rebels beat the Aggies 4-3 at Swayze Field in the opener of the three-game series between the teams.
Junior Riley Maddox — who had emergency wisdom teeth surgery earlier in the week — pitched six innings with two earned runs and a career-high seven strikeouts. Ole Miss (26-23, 10-15 SEC) pitching held the eighth-best scoring offense in college baseball (9.5 runs per game) to three runs.
“(Maddox is) a great competitor, and he’s pitched really well for us and deserves a lot better results, because of the fielding, because of the lack of run support, all of that,” Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco said. “But proud of his effort tonight because, once again, we make an error, they score a run in the first. But man, does he just continue to battle and compete, and he gave us all he could tonight.”
Trailing 3-2 heading into the bottom of the eighth inning, sophomore designated hitter Andrew Fischer led off with a single and advanced to third on an error. Senior left fielder Jackson Ross drove in the tying run with a double in the next at-bat and, after advancing to third on a groundout, was driven home on Groff’s deep fly ball to center. Senior Connor Spencer closed out the game with a scoreless ninth.
Ross had a team-best two RBIs.
“There’s no better feeling then when you get to second base right there,” Ross said. “But guys pitched it well all night. … Maddox pitched his a** off, we have Wes (Mendes who) pitched great out of the bullpen and then obviously, you guys saw it in the ninth there, Connor Spencer’s incredible.”
The first two Texas A&M (41-9, 16-9) batters of the game reached on Maddox via an error and a walk, and the error came around to score on an a Jackson Appel single. Maddox notched a pair of strikeouts, though, to minimize the damage. Kaeden Kent hit a solo home run in the second. Sophomore third baseman Judd Utermark hit a towering solo shot with two outs in the second to cut the Aggies’ lead in half, and Ross tied the game at two in the third with an RBI single.
Texas A&M retook the lead in the fifth with a two-out RBI single from Hayden Schott.
The Rebels were held scoreless for four-straight innings until catching fire in the eighth. Ole Miss pitching did the heavy lifting in the meantime, holding the Aggies scoreless for the final four innings. Freshman Wes Mendes pitched two hitless innings in relief of Maddox and earned the win. Spencer shut the door on Texas A&M with two strikeouts in the ninth to notch his seventh save.
“To see that (late rally) against this good of a team is pretty big,” Maddox said. “And I think it’s pretty big for our momentum going forward.”
Ole Miss hosts Texas A&M Saturday at 4 p.m. The game will be broadcast on SEC Network+.
