Ole Miss players celebrate Tristan Bissetta's home run against Jackson State at Swayze Field. | Ole Miss Athletics
Ole Miss players celebrate Tristan Bissetta's home run against Jackson State at Swayze Field. | Ole Miss Athletics

Ole Miss Uses Power and Patience to Roll Past Jackson State

BY Taylor Hodges

Coaches and players will never admit this, but there are some games where all a team really has to do is show up and win.

Nobody expected Ole Miss football to do anything other than beat Georgia State 63-7 last season, right?

Wednesday night had that same feel for Ole Miss baseball. But as the saying goes, they play the game for a reason. Because every now and then, someone pulls off something ridiculous.

For Jackson State to upset Ole Miss, it needed free bases, defensive mistakes, and a little chaos.

And in the first inning, the Tigers got exactly that.

Led Alvarez ripped a double down the right-field line. Tyree Reed reached on what should’ve been a routine groundout, but the ball skipped off the top of Will Furniss’ glove. Alvarez moved to third and scored on a wild pitch from Terry Hayes Jr. Moments later, Pier Cabral punched a single through the right side to bring Reed home.

Just like that, Jackson State had a 2-0 lead following the exact recipe you need if you’re trying to shock a team you’re not supposed to beat. There had to be some good vibes in that dugout.

Those good vibes lasted all of two at-bats.

Dom Decker drew a leadoff walk, and Judd Utermark hammered a hanging curveball into the left-field seats. From there, the night went the way everyone expected.

Ole Miss drew 13 walks (two more than its total number of hits) in an 18-3 rout.

Utermark hit two home runs, and the second was a grand slam home run that was every bit as loud as the first. Tristan Bissetta kept his scorching start going, finishing 2-for-2 with two homers, four RBIs, and a walk.

By the time the dust settled, the early scare felt like a footnote.

Jackson State got the start it needed, but Ole Miss quickly reminded everyone why some games come with lopsided expectations. Upsets happen in baseball just not on Wednesday night in Oxford.

Winning/Losing Pitchers

  • WP: Owen Hancock (1-0) 2 IP, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, 41 TP
  • LP: Trae Burton (0-1) – 2.1 IP, 4 H, 8 R, 7 BB, 3 K, 2 WP

Ole Miss Batting Leaders

  • Judd Utermark: 2-for-4, 6 RBI, 2 HR, 2 K, 1 HBP
  • Tristan Bissetta: 2-for-2, 4 RBI, 2 HR, 1 BB
  • Colin Reuter: 1-for-2, 2 R, 2 RBI, 1 BB
  • Cannon Gouldin: 2-for-2, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 2B

Next Up

Ole Miss will be off until Friday when it hosts Missouri State for a three-game weekend series. First-pitch Friday is set for 4 p.m., Saturday is at 2 p.m. and Sunday at 1:30 p.m. All three games will be shown on SECN+

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