By Adam Brown
Sports Editor
adam.brown@hottytoddy.com
Ole Miss (24-18, 7-13) dropped a hard-fought loss to the No. 5 Arkansas Razorbacks 6-3 in the bottom of the ninth on Saturday night.
Ole Miss freshman left hander Hunter Elliott sundered a solo home run to Arkansas in the first by Brady Slavens.
The Rebels quickly answered with a solo shot off the bat of TJ McCants to lead off the second.
Ole Miss’ captain Tim Elko put the Rebels in the lead with home run in the third.
Elliott kept the Razorbacks quiet for the first four innings outside of the home run.
Arkansas got a two-run home run by Braden Webb to left in the fifth to go up 3-2.
In the seventh, Ole Miss had a great chance to retake the lead after a double by Ben Van Cleve. Elko was walked to load the bases and couldn’t get them home.
Elliott worked 6.0 complete innings allowed three runs on four hits with eight strikeouts and a walk.
The Rebels brought Jack Dougherty into the game in the seventh.
In the eighth, Ole Miss opened the frame with bases loaded no outs as Hayden Dunhurst and McCants walk. Peyton Chatagnier grounded into a double play to short that brought Kemp Alderman into score that tied the game at 3-3.
The Rebels had runners at first and second with no outs in the ninth after a strikeout and a groundout double play by Kevin Graham ended the frame.
Arkansas’ Kendall Diggs hit the game winning three-run home run to win the game.
Dougherty (1-3) tossed 2.1 innings with three runs on a walk and two strikeouts.
Ole Miss and Arkansas will take the diamond on Sunday at noon for the rubber match on ESPN.
