Ole Miss routs Memphis for another midweek win
Published 10:09 pm Wednesday, April 4, 2018
Wednesday had the chance to be an RPI blemish for an Ole Miss team squarely in the mix for a national seed halfway through the season.
The Rebels never let that come close to happening.
No. 3 Ole Miss scored in all but three innings in a 12-0 rout of Memphis at AutoZone Park. The victory gave the Rebels the regular-season sweep after knocking off the Tigers 8-6 in the teams’ first meeting on Feb. 20.
Ole Miss, which improved to 9-0 in midweek games and matched the 2004 team for the best 30-game start in program history, will take a three-game winning streak on the road this weekend to Mississippi State for a series starting Friday at 6:30 p.m.
Memphis (9-20) came in losers of six straight with an RPI of 208, but Ole Miss (26-4) quickly grabbed momentum when Thomas Dillard scored on left-hander Danny Denz’s wild pitch in the second inning and never let it go. The Rebels scored in each of the next four innings with a five-run sixth blowing the game open.
Thomas Dillard went 2-for-2 with three runs scored and four RBIs, two of which came on a bases-clearing triple in the third. Will Golsan had just his sixth multi-hit game of the season, going 3-for-5 with a triple and an RBI.
Ryan Olenek, who’s recorded six straight multi-hit games with a .520 average during that span, went 2-for-4 and scored twice while Cole Zabowski drove in two runs for the Rebels, who outhit Memphis 13-4.
The Rebels’ bullpen worked 4 ⅔ innings of one-hit ball in relief of right-hander Houston Roth (4-0), who worked around four walks and a pair of bases-loaded jams in the first two innings to keep the Tigers scoreless through 4 ⅓ innings. Roth scattered three hits and struck out five.
Max Cioffi, Connor Green and Austin Miller, each making their first appearance in more than two weeks, combined to allow just one baserunner in 3 ⅔ innings. Freshman Jordan Fowler retired three of the four batters he faced in the seventh.
Denz (1-2) took the loss after allowing four runs on five hits and walking four in four innings.