Ole Miss falls in game one of top-five matchup against Arkansas

OXFORD | Ole Miss has 10 come-from-behind wins this season, and that toughness and tenacity kicked in following a short rain delay in the early innings on Thursday.

Arkansas put up four straight hits to start the game against Ryan Rolison and led 4-0 through 1 1/2 innings, but the Rebels tied it by the third and seemed to have Razorback ace Blaine Knight on the way out multiple times through the sixth inning.

The Arkansas bullpen surfaced in the seventh, which has been a key moment in many Ole Miss wins. However, Matt Cronin has been a common presence in Arkansas victories. And he won out.

The Rebels couldn’t get to him over the final three innings and fell in the series opener, 6-4, in the initial game of the first-ever top-five weekend series at Swayze Field. Game two starts at 6:30 p.m Friday.

Cronin, who has five saves and a 1.80 ERA on the season, entered with the two-run advantage and held it up with five strikeouts and just one hit allowed through 11 batters faced. Will Golsan had that hit to lead off the ninth but two strikeouts and a fielder’s choice kept Ole Miss (23-4, 4-3) from getting in scoring position.

“It’s a big fastball from a left-hander,” Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco said. “He’s a strike-thrower and when he misses he misses up. When guys throw hard and miss up it’s tough for guys to lay off it. When it’s down in the zone you can’t get to it. When it’s up you miss it because you’re late.”

Rolison was better than his five runs on nine hits in 5.1 innings indicate, as he struck out eight with just one walk and threw 108 pitches. The breaking ball was sharp as his outing progressed, and he threw the fastball to both sides of the plate consistently for the first time in weeks.

However those first two innings count. Two of the four first-inning hits came via good Arkansas hitting but twice Rolison had 0-2 counts and threw pitches across the middle of the plate.

“I really thought he pitched pretty good,” Bianco said. “They are good early, and it was a tough night to pitch. Four really good at-bats right out of the gate. He attacked the strike zone, and they hit fastballs and breaking balls.”

A Jordan McFarland home run in the sixth gave Arkansas (19-7, 5-2) the lead and chased Rolison, and the Razorbacks added another run on three hits off Will Ethridge in the same inning. The next half inning Cole Zabowski opened with a four-pitch walk, and Ole Miss seemed to be ready to chase Knight, but a fluke fielder’s choice on a great effort by Arkansas second baseman Carson Shaddy and a double play ended the inning.

Zabowski hit a second inning home run, his sixth of the season, and joined Ryan Olenek as the only Rebels with multiple hits. Grae Kessinger, Nick Fortes and Thomas Dillard went a combined 0-for-11 and Dillard struck out four times.

The Rebels scored three in the third to tie the game. Chase Cockrell, Jacob Adams and Ryan Olenek all singled with no outs, and Kessinger reached on a sacrifice bunt that Arkansas botched. With two outs, Zabowski had an RBI single to tie it following Fortes and Dillard strikeouts.

Ole Miss entered the game top three in the SEC in hitting with two outs and runners on base, but the Rebels were 1-for-9 and 3-for-16 in those categories, respectively.