OXFORD | Ole Miss turned Saturday’s matinee with Princeton into a laugher that led to talk of home run distances and the history of tape-measure shots at Swayze Field.
The Rebels led by five runs in the seventh inning when Tim Elko connected with a hung breaking ball and sent it soaring toward centerfield. The first object in its way was the very top of the batter’s eye, as the batted ball ricocheted off and bounced toward the brick building beyond all the blue.
The start of a nine-run inning and part of an 18-4 Ole Miss victory, Trackman estimated Elko’s home run at 421 feet, though that’s debatable since the batter’s eye remains where it was when the fences were 10 feet farther out at 400 feet prior to 2006.
The Internet immediately began comparing it to Alabama’s Kent Matthes’ towering home run into the tree beyond left field 11 years ago and Pedro Alvarez’s bomb just right of the batter’s eye while playing for Vanderbilt.
Ole Miss hitters to compare to were David Dellucci’s highly remembered launch well above the batter’s eye in the mid 90s and Stephen Head’s tennis-court blast in 2005. But those came with different bats. College baseball has used deader BBCOR bats since 2011.
“We’ve hit some ones but not since the dead bat era,” Mike Bianco said. "Not like that and not without the wind blowing out, not with a slight northeast wind. That was pretty impressive.”
It was the only home run for the Rebels who entered with the national lead, but it was part of an 11-hit, 12-walk afternoon to coast past Princeton which is now 0-6 on the season. No. 9 Ole Miss (13-1) has won 13 straight, the most in the Bianco era and equals the most consecutive victories since 1964.
Elko, Justin Bench, Jerrion Ealy (as a reserve) and Cael Baker each had two hits. Bench has reached base in every game this season and picked up his first extra base hit with a two-run double. Princeton led 1-0 until a six-run Ole Miss fourth inning.
Elko is 5 for his last 8 with six RBIs and five runs scored.
Gunnar Hoglund went six innings and struck out 10 without a walk. He scattered five hits and hasn’t allowed an earned run in the past 19 innings.
“The fastball is looking good and the slider and the changeup; I’m just excited for LSU,” Hoglund said.
Ole Miss struck out a season-low six times on Saturday.
