Ole Miss drops series to No. 5 Arkansas

Published 12:06 pm Monday, April 10, 2023

Arkansas beat Ole Miss 6-4 Saturday at Swayze Field to claim the finale of a three-game Southeastern Conference series. The teams had split the first two games that were both played on Friday.

Ole Miss, 18-13 overall and 2-10 in the SEC, will host two midweek games – Memphis on Tuesday and Alcorn State on Wednesday. Both contests are set to begin at 6:30 p.m.

Arkansas heads home to Fayetteville 25-6 overall and 8-4 in SEC play.

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The Rebels fell behind 1-0 in the top of the third in the Saturday game on a Caleb Cali home run to center field off Rebel starter J.T. Quinn.

In the bottom of the fourth inning, Ole Miss tied the game 1-1 on an RBI double by Anthony Calarco that scored Ethan Groff, who had led off the inning with a walk.

After the Razorbacks got two runs in the top of the fifth, Ethan Lege singled to center field to get something going for the Rebels. After Lege was picked off at first base, Peyton Chatagnier walked, and Arkansas went to its bullpen.

Right-hander Dylan Carter entered for right-handed starter Will McEntire. But on an 0-1 count, Jacob Gonzalez homered into the right field bullpen to tie the game 3-3.

The Hogs went back up by two runs in the top of the seventh. After Cali singled, right-hander Sam Tookoian came in for Rebel reliever Jackson Kimbrell, who had replaced Quinn to start the sixth. Later in the Arkansas seventh, Tavian Josenberger got a base hit to score Cali. Peyton Stovall singled and Josenberger was able to score on a Rebel error on the play.

With Arkansas ahead 5-3, right-hander Gage Wood replaced Carter on the mound for the Hogs. Ole Miss was able to get one run in the bottom of the seventh on a Gonzalez single, which scored Lege who had doubled.

Up 5-4, the Razorbacks answered with one run of their own in the top of the eighth to again give Arkansas a two-run advantage. Jace Bohrofen doubled and scored on a Kendall Diggs single to right.

Lege continued his hot bat on Saturday, going 3-for-4 in the finale, which gave him seven hits in the three games against the Razorbacks. Gonzalez was 2-for-4 with three RBI.

Stovall with two hits and two RBI led Arkansas offensively. Cali and Bohrofen also had two hits each.

Carter (5-0) was the winner for the Razorbacks, and Kimbrell (0-2) got the loss for Ole Miss. Wood got his second save of the season for Arkansas.