Aggies salvage Sunday, likely forcing Rebs to do well in Baton Rouge
OXFORD | Texas A&M ran down three balls at the warning track over the course of the Sunday series finale. Those were the closest the Rebels came to challenging the Aggies on getaway day.
Ole Miss claimed the series and takes postseason hopes into the final regular season weekend but couldn’t complete the sweep, as Texas A&M comfortably cruised to the 6-0 win. The Rebels are 27-24 and 11-16 in the SEC with a trip to LSU left prior to the SEC Tournament.
“You’re now in the NCAA Tournament because if you win you control your destiny,” Mason Nichols said. “We have to win some games at LSU… It’s all important, and the focus has to be there.”
Ole Miss and Florida are tied for 10th in the SEC, one game ahead of the LSU. Missouri and Auburn are two teams in line to miss Hoover. Auburn is already eliminated, and Missouri is three back of Ole Miss.
Texas A&M is 42-10 and 17-10. The Aggies are two back of Arkansas in the SEC West.
The Rebels need two wins in Baton Rouge starting Thursday to reach 13 SEC wins in the regular season, the lowest total to ever make the NCAA Tournament without rainouts involved.
Despite the poor records, Ole Miss has quality at-large metrics with the No. 22 RPI, No. 2 strength of schedule and 12 wins against the RPI top 25. Those give the Rebels a puncher’s chance or better should they win the series at LSU.
“We have to win baseball games,” Mike Bianco said. “You can see the finish line, and we’re in a better position than a week ago and two weeks ago. We’ve played better and have a lot of work to do.”
The Rebels didn’t win a series in Baton Rouge from 1982 until 2019 but are 5-1 in the last six at Alex Box Stadium, including a sweep in 2022.
Texas A&M starter Shane Sdao allowed just three hits in seven innings with six strikeouts and a walk. Ole Miss got a runner to second base twice against him, both with two outs and stranded each time. The Rebels were 3-for-24 against him. No Ole Miss runner reached third base.
The Aggies hit a leadoff home run in the third inning off starter Nichols and then put it away with three in the sixth and one in the seventh. JT Quinn allowed three hits and three runs in 0.1 innings, as four of the five batters he faced reached base.
Freshman Wes Mendes yielded one run in two innings during his second appearance of the weekend.
Nichols gave up only one run on three hits with five strikeouts in five innings. He threw 81 pitches, 52 strikes. He had some back tightness in third and fourth innings.
Ole Miss committed three errors. Reagan Burford, Luke Hill and Ethan Groff had the Rebels' three hits.