OXFORD | Ole Miss had back-to-back innings that ended with frustrated and stranded runners everywhere. The Rebels were stuck on a run, bailing out Texas A&M miscues and struggling to string together at-bats once things were set up.
Five runners were left on the bases in the fourth and fifth innings combined, and it seemed to be a night of looking for that high-leverage hit to break things open.
An inning later Ole Miss found that at-bat. And plenty more followed.
The Rebels put up six runs in both the sixth and seventh innings, watching Texas A&M fall apart in the process with four errors, and hammered the Aggies, 13-3, on Friday to clinch the series and set up a sweep opportunity at 2 p.m. on Saturday.
Ole Miss (29-15, 12-8) won the opener, 5-4, in 11 innings on Thursday. Texas A&M is 30-14-1 and 11-8-1 in the SEC.
“We had traffic on the bases and ran pitch counts up even when we didn’t score,” Mike Bianco said. “Kept coming and working at-bats and it finally broke through for us.”
Texas A&M took the lead with a run in the top of the sixth, but after a Kevin Graham sacrifice fly to tie the game in the next half inning, Ole Miss scored five straight two-out runs with Grae Kessinger and Ryan Olenek singles and a Tyler Keenan three-run home run to remove all doubt.
An inning later, Texas A&M committed two errors to help the Rebels turn it into a laugher. Ole Miss had 13 hits on the night, with Kessinger, Olenek and Anthony Servideo having three apiece. Kessinger reached base for the 32nd straight game, and Servideo hit his second career home run to give the Rebels the 1-0 lead in the third inning.
All the runs overshadowed an exemplary Doug Nikhazy effort. The Ole Miss freshman went seven innings for the second time this season, handcuffing Texas A&M with 10 strikeouts and no walks. The lefty gave up four hits and two runs — one earned — on 96 pitches.
Nikhazy retired nine straight to start the game and five of his seven innings went in order. A week after beating opposing starter Tanner Burns, Nikhazy out-dueled Asa Lacy, the Texas A&M lefty who had a 1.97 ERA and .161 batting average against entering the day.
“That is one of the reasons Doug is different. He doesn’t look at it that way,” Bianco said. “He just goes out and competes and tries to pitch. It doesn’t matter if it is a midweek game and he is coming out of the bullpen or he is starting against a top five team in the country. I wish all the young guys could maybe have that mindset.”
Ole Miss was textbook in its approach, other than the missed chances, getting Lacy out in the sixth inning and hammering the Aggies bullpen. Lacy struck out 11 to get to 100 on the year.
Ole Miss went 6-for-16 with runners in scoring position while A&M never had an at-bat with that situation.
Bianco has 739 wins as Ole Miss head coach, passing former South Carolina caochRay Tanner for third in SEC history.
