Dillard, Rebels use power to push past Austin Peay to start homestand

OXFORD | Thomas Dillard admits he probably pressed and tried to do too much as the hitless at-bats piled up at Long Beach State.

The Ole Miss four-hole batter went 0-for-12 during the three-game series in Southern California after having five hits in his previous two gams prior to the trip.

On Tuesday, he had a career night to get rid of the bad feeling from the weekend. Dillard hit two home runs and had four RBIs during the Ole Miss 11-4 win over Austin Peay (8-4). He pulled one fastball well into the right field terrace and hit the other one opposite field.

“I think in the moment I might have (pressed) a little bit but after it’s over you have to know it’s over,” Dillard said. “We play 56 games a year so you know there are a lot of games and a lot of baseball to be played so what is done is done.”

The sophomore worked all offseason to shorten his swing and use the entire field. He struggled as a freshman with a pull approach that would get long and struggle to catch up to SEC fastballs while getting him on his front foot when facing high-tier offspeed pitches.

Austin Peay pitchers Kyle Wilson and Cody Spurgeon didn’t offer up much in the way of meaningful velocity or plane-changing movement, but Dillard’s execution to hit the pitch to the appropriate field was a positive sign. He has seven RBIs in the past two midweek games.

“I was more proud of the opposite field one because I’ve been working on that all year,” Dillard said. “Hitting it out that way was cool.”

Ole Miss is 11-1 on the season and continues its five-game homestand Wednesday with Little Rock.

Chase Cockrell hit two doubles and had three hits, and Tyler Keenan had two hits including his first career home run.

“That’s one of the reasons we’ve been good offensively is it comes from different sources,” Mike Bianco said. “Every night there is a contributor, and tonight seemed like big boy night with all the big guys helping us offensively.”

Houston Roth started and gave up four runs — all earned — in 4.2 innings. Will Stokes, after not pitching this past weekend, got Ole Miss out of the fifth and threw 2.1 scoreless innings. Will Ethridge was perfect in two innings to finish it.

The Rebels led 5-4 in the fifth but added a six-run eighth to end the drama.