Ole Miss stranded multiple runners on base in three of the first four innings of Saturday's finale with LSU, and then the lid finally blew off thanks to Tommy White's grand slam and the six-spot that came out of it.
The Tigers wouldn't be denied from that point on as they earned their first SEC series sweep of 2024 and knocked off the Rebels 9-3 on senior day.
"Just a tough weekend, Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco said. "Just have to be better in all phases."
The Rebels drop below .500 overall (27-28) for the first time since February, forcing them to make a flawless run through Hoover to have any hope at an NCAA Tournament.
Mason Nichols (L 4-2) pitched just three innings, giving up five hits, four runs and three walks, striking out just one batter in his 68 pitches. His bullpen made up of Mason Morris, Brayden Jones, Ryne Rodriguez, JT Quinn and Mitch Murrell didn't fare much better.
Offensively, Ethan Groff recorded two of Ole Miss' seven hits on the afternoon, with Luke Hill, Will Furniss and Reagan Burford each knocking in a run apiece. The Rebels stranded 10 runners on base.
The Rebels threatened early by putting runners at the corners thanks to an Andrew Fischer one-out double and Will Furniss walked, but Samuel Dutton got out of that first inning unscathed. His team proceeded to draw first blood for the third consecutive game. After Mason Nichols gave up leadoff single by Chris Braswell and full count walk to Jared Jones, Hayden Travinski brought both home with a two-RBI double before the end of the inning.
Nate Ackenhsausen came in to relieve Dutton and easily went 1-2-3 through the first three Ole Miss batters he faced. Nichols proceeded to give up a one-out double by Ashton Larson, but got out of the inning with no run damage.
Ole Miss proceeded to blow another opportunity with runners at the corners during the third inning.Nate Ackenhausen issued a leadoff walk to Furniss and walked Fischer soon after, but Will Furniss flew out to center to keep the game moving. LSU threatened again in the bottom half of the third, but a 5-4-3 double play got Nichols out of trouble once again.
The Rebels once again got a leadoff man on board as Ethan Groff hit a leadoff triple that was nearly caught at the wall in left field. Ackenhausen the gave up a full count walk to Smithwick, which brought Fidel Ulloa to come out of the LSU bullpen. Reagan Burford hit one straight to Ulloa on the mound, who's throw to home plate resulted in a successful out and forced Groff to head to the dugout. Treyson Hughes flew out to deep right field and moved Smithwick over to third base, putting runners at the corners with two out for Eli Berch. LSU got out of it unscathed. Berch fouled out first base side to keep a shutout intact.
Mason Morris came out of the Ole Miss bullpen in the fourth after Nichols gave up a leadoff single and full count walk. Morris issued a full count walk of his own to load the bases, with no outs for the Tigers to work with. Alex Milazzo hit an RBI single to right field to make it a 3-0 LSU lead. Bianco then brought Brayden Jones out of the bullpen, with the bases still loaded with no outs. After Chris Braswell knocked in a run with a single, Tommy White blew the game open with a grand slam to right field to make it a whopping 8-0 lead for the Tigers.
"What's happened a lot to us this year way too much, we couldn't get off the field," Bianco said. "Instead of giving up a couple, we give up six. When you do that, it's hard to survive."
Jones went on to finish the inning.
In the fifth, Luke Hill hit a two-out single, but that was all Ole Miss could muster. Ryne Rodriguez came out of the bullpen to begin the bottom half of the inning. He issued a leadoff four-pitch walk to Mac Bingham, but proceeded to take care of the next three batters.
Ole Miss finally broke the shutout in the sixth thanks to a leadoff double that eventually led to him scoring on a sac fly by Reagan Burford. Justin Loer came in to replace Ulloa on the mound after and got out of the inning with no further damage. LSU proceeded to tack on another score, thanks to a second home run by Tommy White deep in left center field. Rodriguez proceeded to stand two at the end of the inning.
After a leadoff walk to Eli Berch and Jackson Ross double in the seventh, Luke Hill scored Berch with a groundout to short to make the score 9-2. Will Furniss followed that up by scoring Ross with an RBI single to left to make it 9-3, bringing Thatcher Hurd out of the LSU pen. Hurd got the third out for his team. Rodriguez recorded two more outs before JT Quinn replaced him out of the Ole Miss bullpen. Chris Braswell flew out to right to end the inning.
Burford hit a one-out single in the eighth inning, but soon left after the Tigers turned a 4-6-3 double play. The Tigers had second and third base in the bottom half of the inning before Mitch Murrell came out of the pen. After a groundout to send the game to the ninth, Hurd, Kade Anderson and Gavin Guidry closed the game off to secure the series sweep.
The Rebels will be the No. 12 seed in their first SEC Baseball Tournament matchup on Tuesday against No. 5 seed and in-state rival Mississippi State. First pitch is set for 8 p.m. CT and can be seen on SEC Network or listened to on the Ole Miss Radio Network.
