Rolison, Rebels dominate Winthrop to start season

OXFORD | When Alex Raines pulled a well-struck shot down the third-base line to open the third inning, it seemed that Ryan Rolison could be blemished by something other than missing the zone and allowing free base runners.

Ole Miss had scored two runs the half inning before, and Raines clapped repeatedly and urged his teammates in the dugout to follow his lead. Instead, they copied what most other visiting batters did during the season opener — whiffed, waved and gave plenty of credence to Rolison’s considerable preseason buzz.

The sophomore left-hander followed his lone hit given up with three straight strikeouts, taking care of the side by himself for the second straight inning and bringing the Rebels back to the plate for an appearance that pushed the lead out of reach and allowed Ole Miss to coast to the 7-3 victory over Winthrop.

“I challenged myself to stop the bleeding,” Rolison said. “I was going right at guys and challenging them with my stuff and making them get themselves out.”

Game two is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Saturday. Ole Miss right-hander Brady Feigl will face Eagles righty Colten Rendon.

Rolison wouldn’t give up another hit, and he struck out 12 out of 18 total batters faced in five innings — the most by an opening-day Ole Miss starter since Lance Lynn also had 12 strikeouts in five innings during a 2008 win against Minnesota.

Rolison, who is expected to be a first round pick in this summer’s MLB Draft, struck out 10 of the 12 swinging including all three with the runner in scoring position. He walked two and threw 55 strikes out of 81 pitches.

The only slight criticism is the pitch count for a staff ace. Missing bats and overpowering opponents cause the count to increase rapidly, but a goal for the Ole Miss staff this season is to last deeper into games and not tax the bullpen earlier in the weekend.

Rolison threw 22 pitches in the first inning before settling in and keeping the count damage minimal considering the strikeouts. There were only 59 pitches with 10 strikeouts over his final four innings.

“It sounds counterproductive but it is when you’re striking out people and throwing a lot of pitches,” Mike Bianco said. “He only had three balls put in play and that runs your count up… That won’t always happen, but it was a good first night.”

Ole Miss made two quick outs in the third inning before a couple singles set up Tim Rowe with the shot of the night.

Nick Fortes bounced a two-out single through the six-hole, and Thomas Dillard hit his second of two well-connected singles to the right side. Then, Rowe, who led Ole Miss with an average exit velocity of 90.15 MPH last season, hit his first career home run — a ball that left over the right-center gap and set off the first beer shower of 2018.

The second-year junior college transfer hit fifth in the order and is expected to provide extra-base-hit pop for the Rebels this season as one of the main candidates to replace the production of Colby Bortles and Tate Blackman.

The Rebels already had the lead from Tyler Keenan’s first career at-bat an inning earlier. Keenan, who started at third base, sent a ball off the right-field wall for a two-run double off Winthrop starter Zach Peek. Keenan, who expected to split time at third base with fellow freshman Tim Elko, had the only extra base hit for the Rebels.

Ole Miss had 13 hits spread between all nine starters. Dillard had three singles — all from the left side — and Keenan later rocketed a chopper off Winthrop first baseman Tyler Halstead’s throat. Halstead went down on contact but stayed in the game.

The Rebels, who added single runs in the fourth inning and eighth inning, hit .500 with two outs, .643 with runners on base and .625 with runners in scoring position. Meanwhile, Winthrop was just 1-for-14 with runners on base.

“It was a nice night because it came from different people,” Bianco said. “We got the timely hit, the two-out hit and bunched them together which we didn’t do last year.”

Houston Roth pitched three effective relief innings, escaping a shaky initial frame when he gave up a double and allowed two unearned runs because of a Will Golsan error in the outfield.

Will Stokes gave up a hit and a run in the ninth but finished the game without incident.