Advertisement
OMAHA, Neb. — The rebels completed a lap of honor around Charles Schwab Field.
Ole Miss had a two-barrel lead over Oklahoma during the eighth inning of Saturday’s opener in the College World Series Finals when it caught fire at the plate.
TJ McCants ignited the scoring spree by connecting on a pitch from Chazz Martinez and sending him into the crowd in right field for a two-run homer.
Calvin Harris added fuel to the fire on the next at-bat with a solo home run over the midfield wall. Finally, Justin Bench brought down the house with a solo homer to left field in the ensuing at-bat.
“We have some balls in their hot zone and they dumped them,” OU head coach Skip Johnson said. “They are good players. We need to keep moving forward and really execute on our game plan.”
More:How Brett Squires Still Brings ‘Electricity’ to OU Baseball After Injury at College World Series
Ole Miss is the first CWS team to hit consecutive home runs since LSU in 1998.
The home run derby helped the Rebels to a 10-3 win and removed a win from a national championship. Ole Miss and OU play Game 2 on Sunday at 2 p.m.
“We’re not giving up,” said Redshirt student Blake Robertson. “We go from pitch to pitch and don’t give up. We will fight to the last. It’s just an unfortunate loss for us, but it doesn’t define us as a team.”
The Rebels benefited from a shaky start on Jake Bennett’s mound. After throwing two wild pitches in the first inning that helped Ole Miss take a 2-0 lead, the redshirt sophomore sent a ball toward the bench in the following frame.
It was far away.
Catcher Jimmy Crooks jumped out of his crouch to try to coral the wild field, but it escaped his glove and hit the backstop.
Harris reached second base, and he came home when Bench sent a line drive into right field for an RBI single.
Meanwhile, the Ole Miss starting pitcher came out guns blazing.
Jack Dougherty got the ball after making just three starts this season, and he quashed an OU offense that was averaging eight runs per game in the CWS.
After a solo homer by Tim Elko extended Ole Miss’ lead to 4-0 in the top part of the third inning, Dougherty hit the side in the bottom of the frame. All three OU batters went down swinging.
“You can’t take anything away from him,” Robertson said of Daugherty. “He did pitches. I think we were a little faster. Lesson learned.”
More:Kimrey Family Increases OU Baseball Support To More Than $5 Million
Dougherty had never pitched more than five innings in a college game. Sure enough, the sophomore started losing steam in the sixth after throwing a no-hitter through five.
A throwing error allowed OU to reduce the lead to 4-1 and Dougherty loaded the bases with no outs by leading John Spikerman to the next at-bat.
At this point, freshman pitcher Mason Nichols came in to restore order to the rebels. He escaped further trouble by retiring three of the four batters he faced, although a bases-loaded walk to Tanner Tredaway made it a 4-2 game.
Bennett’s day ended with an out in the top of the seventh inning. The MLB prospect finished his last outing with OU with 10 strikeouts and three earned runs.
After Ole Miss’ trio of home runs in the eighth inning, Blake Robertson cut the deficit to 8-3 with an RBI single in the bottom of the frame.
But the rebels weren’t done yet. They ran two more heats in the ninth to secure the 10-3 win.
OU will try to keep their championship hopes alive on Saturday.
“I think the lesson they learned is they learned to take one pitch at a time,” Johnson said. “We woke up this morning and we still had two games to win. We’ll wake up in the morning and we still have two games to win. It happens.”
2022 NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament:Men’s College World Series schedule, results, seasons, TV info
Interesting facts about the OU 2022 baseball team
More:Three things to know about OU Baseball’s College World Series final opponent Ole Miss
More:How Brett Squires Still Brings ‘Electricity’ to OU Baseball After Injury at College World Series
Carlson:OU Baseball Punches ticket to College World Series Finals, may add names to Omaha lore
‘given you an identity’:How Reggie Willits helped power OU Baseball’s College World Series run
‘Kind of surreal’:David Sandlin throws OU baseball past Texas A&M in College World Series finals
More:Kimrey Family Increases OU Baseball Support To More Than $5 Million
Tramel’s Scissor Tales:OU Baseball latest example of College World Series Cinderellas
‘Win the whole damn thing’:Why the Sooners believed they were NCAA baseball title contenders all season
“Ride on”:OU baseball beats Notre Dame to win a College World Series finale
Carlson:As OU baseball chases the CWS title, it may add to the Sooners’ spectacular spring
More:How Kendall Pettis rebounded to break out in College World Series run for OU baseball
“We set the table very early”:OU baseball roars past Texas A&M in the opening game of the College World Series
‘A Bunch of Davids’:How OU Baseball took on the underdog role to make the College World Series
