Ole Miss vs. Saint Louis live updates: Rebels cruise to opening win in Oxford Regional

Published 2:00 pm Saturday, June 2, 2018

Ole Miss will start the road to Omaha today in the Oxford Regional against No. 4 seed Saint Louis. First pitch from Oxford-University Stadium is set for 6 p.m.

The Rebels (46-15) enter the NCAA Tournament as the No. 4 national seed, the highest in program history. Fresh off its run to the SEC Tournament championship, Ole Miss will take a four-game winning streak into tonight’s game.

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Ole Miss’ Ryan Rolison (9-4, 3.79 earned run average) will oppose Saint Louis right-hander Miller Hogan (10-3, 2.19). The Billikens (38-18) won the Atlantic 10 regular-season and tournament titles.

The double-elimination regional was postponed Friday after heavy rain in the area caused flooding. An updated tournament schedule can be found here.

Here’s a breakdown of the regional field.

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Top 9th: Cioffi retires Saint Louis in order, and Ole Miss wins 9-2 for its fifth straight win and first NCAA Tournament victory since 2014.

Ole Miss advances to play No. 2 seed Tennessee Tech in the winners’ bracket Sunday at 4 p.m. Saint Louis will take on Missouri State in an elimination game Sunday at noon.

Bottom 8th: Another clean inning for Lehmann. Neither team has a hit since the fourth.

Top 8th: Rolison’s night is done after scattering four hits, walking three and striking out 13 on 115 pitches. Freshman right-hander Max Cioffi is coming on in relief.

Cioffi issues a two-out walk to Garella but gets Carter Hanford to fly out to center to get out of the inning unscathed.

Bottom 7th: Lehmann strikes out the side.

Top 7th: Rolison strikes out the side. He’s up to a career-high 13 strikeouts.

Bottom 6th: Lehmann works another 1-2-3 inning. He’s yet to allow a hit through three frames.

Top 6th: Rolison works his first clean inning with a strikeout, a groundout and a flyout.

Bottom 5th: Lehmann retires Ole Miss in order.

Top 5th: Rolison pitches around another hit batter and Reeser’s two-out single to keep the Billikens from cutting into Ole Miss’ lead. A strikeout of Jake Garella strands runners at the corners.

Bottom 4th: Hogan walks Kessinger and gives up back-to-back singles to Olenek and Fortes to load the bases. Saint Louis is making a pitching change, going to right-hander Connor Lehmann. It’s Hogan’s shortest outing of the season.

Dillard drives a sacrifice fly to the warning track in right-center. Olenek tries to tag up on Zabowski’s popup in foul territory down the left-field line but is thrown out to end the inning. 9-2 Ole Miss.

Top 4th: A third walk from Rolison puts one on with one out, but the left-hander strikes out the other three batters he faces in the frame. Rolison is up to seven strikeouts.

Bottom 3rd: Will Golsan is hit by a pitch before Tyler Keenan, in his first game in more than a week, extends Ole Miss’ lead with a two-run home run to center. 8-2 Ole Miss.

Top 3rd: Rolison plunks King to give Saint Louis a one-out baserunner, but nothing doing for the Billikens after back-to-back strikeouts.

Bottom 2nd: Thomas Dillard reaches on an error by the third baseman, and Cole Zabowski follows with a two-run homer to center to tie it. After Will Golsan’s single and a fielder’s choice, Chase Cockrell lines a double to the gap in left-center to score Tyler Keenan and give Ole Miss its first lead. Jacob Adams follows with an RBI triple into the right-fielder corner. Hogan gets Grae Kessinger swinging before Olenek drops an RBI double down the right-field line.

Hogan induces a ground ball from Nick Fortes, but shortstop Alex King can’t grip the ball. King gets Olenek in a rundown rounding third, but the ball’s thrown away, allowing Olenek to score. Hogan strikes out Thomas Dillard to end the inning after throwing more than 30 pitches in the frame. 6-2 Ole Miss.

Top 2nd: Rolison issues another one-out walk to Cole Debut, who steals second and scores on Aaron Case’s two-out single. Rolison picks Case off to end the Billikens’ half of the frame. 2-0 Saint Louis.

Bottom 1st: Ryan Olenek draws a one-out walk, but Hogan induces a fielder’s choice before Nick Fortes is thrown out at second trying to steal.

Top 1st: Ryan Rolison issues a one-out walk, and Nick Reeser follows with an RBI double to give Saint Louis a quick lead. Rolison gets back-to-back strikeouts to strand Reeser and limit the damage. 1-0 Saint Louis.