Ole Miss outfielder TJ McCants was named SEC Freshman of the Week by the conference on Monday.
In the sweep of Alabama, McCants hit .364 with a team-high five runs scored, a double, a home run and three RBI. The newcomer out of Cantonment, Florida, also excelled defensively as the Rebels’ starting center fielder, despite only having six career starts in the outfield.
In the first game against the Crimson Tide, McCants started a furious ninth-inning rally, earning his way on with a leadoff hit-by-pitch. He scored the first of an eight-run rally, and later in the inning, drove in its final run with an RBI groundout as Ole Miss came from behind for a 9-6 win to start the series in Tuscaloosa.
McCants then accounted for both of the Rebels’ runs in Game 2, a 2-0 pitchers’ duel. In the fifth inning, he broke a 0-0 tie with a solo home run to right field, one of just four hits allowed all day by Alabama starter Dylan Smith and one of just three home runs allowed by the Crimson Tide right-hander this season. Then, in the eighth, he tacked on an insurance run, scoring on an RBI single by Kevin Graham after reaching on a base hit of his own as part of a 2-for-3 day.
The Rebel freshman feasted once again in Game 3, going 2-for-5 with two more runs scored and an RBI. McCants notched an RBI single in the sixth and quickly came around to score on a John Rhys Plumlee double. In the ninth, he nearly added his second home run of the week, smashing a double off the right-center wall before scoring on a Justin Bench base knock.
McCants and the Rebels return to action on Tuesday as they host North Alabama. The first pitch is set for 4 p.m. on SEC Network+.
Staff report
