Will Ethridge strikes out 10 in debut, as Ole Miss routs Arkansas State

OXFORD | Will Ethridge achieved something no Mike Bianco player ever has on Tuesday.

Ethridge, who entered the season as the No. 33 freshman nationally, per D1Baseball.com, dazzled his his debut, striking out 10 of the 20 Arkansas State batters he faced and lasted five innings. The right-hander allowed two hits and four runs, two earned, on 81 pitches, 53 strikes.

No other Rebel under Bianco has struck out 10 in a debut, and it's the most strikeouts by an Ole Miss freshman since Justin Cryer fanned 10 in 5.2 relief innings during a loss to South Carolina in 2007.

The Rebels made easy work of the Red Wolves, winning 16-4, to move to 4-0 on the season. It's Arkansas State's first loss of sweeping four games from New York Tech over the weekend. The Rebels continue the eight-game homestand with three games against UNC-Wilmington starting Friday.

"As you can see, he has really good stuff," assistant Mike Clement said. "He's going to be a really good pitcher for us. It was good for him to get his feet wet and throw and get a win. He faced some adversity in the fifth inning and was able to get out of it."

Ethridge's outing may also be a school record for a debut, but stats are more difficult to skim through before 2000.

Ole Miss gave him 11 runs of support through four innings, and Ethridge struck out five in a row and six of seven from the first to third innings. Arkansas got to him for a solo home run and a double during the outing, but he ended his appearance with a double play ball.

Mixing a low 90s fastball with multiple offspeed offerings, Ethridge induced two ground outs and two fly outs during his start.

"My goal for the evening was to come out on my own terms," Ethridge said. "Coach B told us to pitch how we pitch. We worked hard for it."

Will Golsan had a career-high four hits and laced three doubles, and Thomas Dillard had three singles, raising his team-high batting average to .583. Catcher Nick Fortes got a spot start and had two hits that led to two RBIs and a run scored. Kyle Watson also had two hits.

Golsan has five extra base hits through four games.

"I'm proud of our guys, especially on a day like this, where it's raining and drizzling all day long," Clement said. "We don't take BP on the field and it's not an easy one."

Oxford product Houston Roth made his Ole Miss debut and struck out five over two scoreless innings. Ryan Rolison, another freshman, had two strikeouts in his lone inning, as did Greer Holston to finish things up.

Ole Miss pitchers, all freshmen, struck out 19 Red Wolves. Arkansas State averaged 5 stolen bases attempts per game entering Tuesday and had two steals against Fortes.

Sophomore Ryan Olenek missed the win over Arkansas State due to a one-game suspension, Ole Miss announced during pregame.

"Ryan Olenek has been supsended one game for unsportsmanlike conduct during an isolated incident in Sunday's game," Bianco said in a statement.

Ole Miss declined to comment further, but multiple witnesses say Olenek threw the warm-up ball harder than normal back into the student section during the series finale against East Carolina. Olenek and Kyle Watson had collided, allowing a ball to drop to the ground, and students heckled Olenek afterward, leading to the harder-than-normal toss toward the right field terrace.

No one was injured by the throw.

Ole Miss outfielders throw the warm-up ball to the students at the beginning of every defensive inning.

Olenek was named the Southeastern Conference Player of the Week on Monday, as he went 6-for-13 with two doubles over the weekend, recording at least one hit in each game.