OXFORD, Miss. –  The Alcorn State University baseball program was neck-and-neck with the third-ranked Rebels, being tied through five-and-a-half but a six-run sixth by Ole Miss spoiled the upset bid, 8-1.
The Braves (5-9, 5-7 SWAC) got zero earned runs from five of its seven pitchers and held U of M to just one run outside of that deciding bottom of the sixth.
Garrett Palladino had a career night, accounting for three of the club's six base knocks (his second multi-hit game of the year) and scored the team's only run on a
Khalil Smith RBI single.
The pitching quintet of
Jose Fernandez,
Raylan Wagner,
Xerian Ximines,
Andrew Meadows and
Joe Smith combined to toss 6.0 innings while not allowing a single earned run with four strikeouts and four hits surrendered.
Jamil Betancourt took a two-strike pitch the opposite way for a double to makeup the only extra-base hit on the evening while
Tristin Garcia and
Kyle Jenkins had a hit apiece as well.
#3 Ole Miss (22-6, 7-2 SEC) whiffed 14 Braves batters in a display of its electric repertoire, while walking just three Braves.
Jacob Gonzalez and TJ McCants both contributed three hits for the Rebs with Gonzalez scoring twice with an RBI and a double while McCants was 3-for-3 plus a run batted in.
Fernandez started the game on the mound for Alcorn, going two innings of perfect pitching, striking out one without allowing a baserunner.
The Purple and Gold drew first blood in the top of the third with an RBI single by
Khalil Smith, scoring Palladino and giving the Baseball Braves the lead, 1-0.
Coach Richardson's crew held the edge for nine outs before Ole Miss capitalized on an error in the fourth to knot the score at one.
Betancourt would get into scoring position with his double in the fifth but the threat was immediately ended.
The Braves were still hanging tough heading into the Rebels half of the sixth but things began to unravel, as a leadoff single and three straight walks gave OM the lead which it would never relinquish, scoring six runs in the frame before adding one more in the eighth to put the final score at a closer than it looked 8-1.
Alcorn is still searching for its first victory over an SEC foe, dropping its third contest against Ole Miss and 58th in-a-row to the baseball juggernaut conference.
The Purple and Gold will tangle with the Mississippi Valley State Delta Devils inside Willie E. "Rat" McGowan Stadium this weekend, beginning at 6 p.m. on Friday.
#FearTheBrave
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