OXFORD | Ole Miss, simply, had to have it.
Will Ethridge gave Ole Miss eight innings of three-run work that arguably should have been even better. The Rebels survived John Doxakis’ seven innings. Parker Caracci threw 52 pitches. The Rebels clawed back from a three-run deficit and two errors.
With all the work put into it and how a loss would permeate into the other two games of the series, it was a must. And despite a deficit in extra innings, Ole Miss prevailed, knocking off Texas A&M, 5-4, with a Thomas Dillard two-run walk-off in the 11th inning.
Dillard, who was 3 for his last 23 going into the at-bat, blistered a Joseph Menefee fastball off the mound and into the outfield for the winning hit. The mob swallowed him just past first base and somehow, some way, the Rebels are 11-8 in the SEC and 28-15 overall, snapping a streak of 4 losses in their last five conference games.
Texas A&M is 30-13-1 and 11-7-1 in the SEC. Game two is at 6:30 p.m. Friday.
“I liked the energy we had in the dugout, even when we were down,” Mike Bianco said. “There was a different vibe and we felt like if we could just get a run we had a chance.”
Menefee walked Tyler Keenan a batter before Dillard, but instead of going to the bullpen, the Aggies stayed with Menefee to make Dillard hit right-handed. He entered the night hitting .208 from the right side but a loud foul back came on the second pitch and the winning hit was solid, as well, scoring Ryan Olenek and Grae Kessinger, who both singled earlier in the inning.
Kessinger has reached base in 31 straight games. Ole Miss is 5-9 against left-handed starters this season.
Ole Miss and Texas A&M traded five combined errors, and TAMU took the lead on a Parker Caracci wild pitch with two outs and two strikes in the top of the 11th. The Aggies led 3-0 at the seventh inning stretch, and the Rebels tied it with two runs scoring on two different errors and a Kevin Graham sacrifice fly.
It wasn’t clean or pretty, and both teams made plays to lose it, but the Rebels did more to win it, forcing just enough pitches to run Doxakis after seven innings and 115 pitches. The left-hander had only nine walks in 62.2 innings this season before walking five Rebels. He scattered five hits and gave up just the one earned run along with the other two unearned runs.
At the time it was just a missed opportunity, but Ole Miss forced Doxakis to throw 24 first-inning pitches which likely caused the Aggies to use up two top bullpen arms in Menefee and Kasey Kalich.
“It was a good approach tonight, and the hitters did a good job,” Bianco said.
Ethridge worked a career-long and stayed sharp throughout the 117-pitch outing. He asked to go back out in the ninth, but the appearance ended with seven strikeouts, one walk, six hits and the three runs that were unlucky coupled with a couple defensive lapses.
“Will showed he’s a true Friday night ace,” Bianco said. “They got key hits and hits with runners on and he hung in there.”
Caracci didn’t give up a hit and had five strikeouts in three innings, but a leadoff walk stayed on the bases because of a Cole Zabowski bobble on a double play ball and scored on the wild pitch in the 11th inning. Bianco said Caracci may can give an inning tomorrow but should be fine on Saturday for sure.
Ole Miss was 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position before Dillard’s heroics, and Ole Miss pitching held the Aggies to three hits in 16 at-bats with runners on base.
