Rebels shut down Tennessee to take series and move to 19-2 on season

OXFORD | Ole Miss received a lofty preseason ranking and most of its early-season wins because of a deep, talented pitching staff that is supposed to hold up under pressure and scrutiny.

It took only one game of SEC play for that adversity to hit, as Tennessee took the opener, and the Rebels went to bed following a loss for the first time all season. But starting Saturday, the Ole Miss staff took over.

After Brady Feigl and company gave up just one solo home run during Saturday’s blowout win, James McArthur started what was a 5-0 shutout Sunday to clinch the series and move Ole Miss to 19-2 on the year.

“I’m just proud of the way we responded after Friday,” Mike Bianco said. “To really answer after that and swing it well and pitch it well and play defense it says a lot about us.”

McArthur threw six shutout innings, and Parker Caracci struck out six of the seven batters he faced before giving up two singles prior to finishing the game. Seven of the nine outs were strikeouts during Caracci’s three innings, and he now has 26 strikeouts and one walk on the season.

Tennessee (13-8) scored six runs in the seventh on Friday but managed just one run the final 20 innings of the series. The Rebels scored 16 runs during that stretch.

McArthur allowed multiple runners on base in just one of his six innings, and he struck out four with three walks and two hits. He threw 106 pitches, 67 strikes and overcame nine fly outs.

“I was filling up the zone with fastballs,” McArthur said. “A whole lot of fastballs from up in the zone to down at the knees when needed. The whole game I felt strong.”

In games to decide series, McArthur has pitched 11 innings without giving up a run.

Ole Miss scored single runs in the first, fifth and sixth innings before a Thomas Dillard two-run home run made the rest of the game a formality. Jacob Adams hit a solo home run to start the game for Ole Miss offensively and in his first at-bat as a leadoff hitter with Grae Kessinger’s absence.

[Related: Kessinger out with hamstring injury]

Adams went 6-for-10 on the weekend.

Cole Zabowski also hit a solo home run, his fourth of the season.

The Rebels stranded multiple runners in scoring position the first two innings, but it didn’t matter because of the pitchers.

Tennessee was 0-for-8 with two outs, 1-for-13 with runners on and 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position.