OXFORD | Sunday baseball can be lengthy slumbers at times, and Ole Miss finished off the sweep with one of those to cap the first series of the season.
The Rebels, now 6-1, knocked off Eastern Kentucky, 9-3, to take all three games against the overmatched Colonels. Ole Miss had 22 runners courtesy of 11 hits, eight walks and three hit by pitches. The Rebels also stole five bases.
Ole Miss scored two in the first and four in the second to separate and coast the rest of the way. The Rebels outscored EKU 26-7 on the weekend. The Colonels are 0-7 on the season.
“We didn’t get that big hit or that exclamation mark of an inning, but I thought the ability to just add on was good,” Ole Miss coach Mike Bianco said. “It’s hard to complain with eight runs, nine runs, nine runs. It wasn’t explosive, but they added up.”
The Rebels host Southern Miss at 4 p.m. on Tuesday as part of a current 13-game homestand. Bianco didn’t announce a starting pitcher.
Hayden Federico had three hits and reached base four times, and Mitchell Sanford had two hits. Isaac Humphrey walked three times. Federico is 8-for-13 and has reached base 13 times in 18 plate appearances to start his college career.
The Rebels held Eastern Kentucky to 3-for-16 with runners on and 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position. Ole Miss hit .273 with runners in scoring position and had four two-out RBIs.
Mason Nichols allowed three hits, one walk and one run in four innings. The senior struck out five with one walk and threw 41 strikes out of 62 pitches, lowering his ERA on the season to 5.14.
“He’s one of our best strike throws, and I thought he was good,” Bianco said. “There were a couple scuffling moments, but he fought through those, and it’s another step in a good direction.”
Six different relievers combined to finish the final five innings. Freshman Owen Hancock gave up a two-run home run to Julius Scearce in the eighth inning and retired one of four batters faced.
Ryne Rodriguez (0.2), Hudson Calhoun (1.1), Sam Tookoian (1.0) and Landon Waters (1.2) had clean sheets.
