Ole Miss third baseman Judd Utermark looks towards first base during Sunday's game against No. 9 Coastal Carolina in Houston. | Ole Miss Athletics
Ole Miss third baseman Judd Utermark looks towards first base during Sunday's game against No. 9 Coastal Carolina in Houston. | Ole Miss Athletics

No. 25 Ole Miss Baseball Falls to No. 9 Coastal Carolina

BY Taylor Hodges

No. 25 Ole Miss spent the weekend in Space City, but it wasn’t the spaceflight it hoped for.

The Rebels’ undefeated streak to the season ended at the BRUCE BOLT College Classic, suffering two losses in three games. The worst loss was the final game of the weekend, a 9-2 loss to No. 9 Coastal Carolina.

It’s not hard to figure out what happened in a baseball game that ends with a lopsided score like that. The losing team’s pitchers weren’t slinging a lot of strikes, the defense made some errors that allowed runs to score and the batters go quiet at the plate.

That was the case for the Rebels.

Wil Libbert didn’t have his best stuff against the Chanticleers. He pitched 4.2 innings and was fairly solid through four innings, allowing just one run. However, in the fifth inning things got away from him and walked three of the first four batters of faced. That led to a groundout single to score one run, a two-run right field double and an Ole Miss pitching change.

JP Robertson wasn’t much better in relief. In 1.2 innings of work, he struck out four batters and walked another, but gave up four runs, only two of which were earned.

Those two unearned runs were a result of the three errors by the Rebels, including two by catcher Austin Fawley.

Offensively, Ole Miss had about the same number of hits (six) as Coastal Carolina (seven), but only four batters got a hit.

Dom Decker kept his bat winging like he did Saturday with a two-run home run in the third inning that put his team ahead 2-1. However, it was his only hit of the day (he did draw a walk). Tristan Bissetta and Hayden Federico each had two hits and Cannon Gouldin had one.

Two of the Rebels best hitters, Judd Utermak and Will Furniss, went 0-for-4 at the plate with two strikeouts each.

Coastal Carolina, meanwhile, did what you would expect of a team that won by seven runs. The Chanticleers got a quality start from Scott Doran, a shutdown pitching performance from reliever Darin Horn and the lineup had seven hits that drove in eight RBIs.

Add it all up and it’s not surprising the Rebels lost. Perhaps most surprising was quickly the game’s final two innings were played because it was over in the blink of an eye.

Winning/Losing Pitchers

  • WP: Scott Doran (3-0) 6.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 5 K, 90 TP, 61 ST
  • LP: Wil Libbert (1-1) 4.2 IP, 3 H, 4 R, 4 BB, 5 K, 77 TP, 44 ST

Ole Miss Batting Leaders

  • Dom Decker: 1-3, 1 R, 2 RBI, 1 HR, 1 BB, 1 K
  • Tristan Bissetta: 2-4
  • Hayden Federico: 2-3, 1 R, 1 2B

Next Up

Ole Miss has a busy week ahead with five games on the docket. On Tuesday, the Rebels will host Memphis and then Tuesday will host North Alabama. First pitch for both games will be at 6:30 p.m. on SECN+.

After those pair of games, Ole Miss will face Evansville for a three-game series beginning Friday night.

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