From the Wire: No. 25 Ole Miss baseball picks up Kids Day win over Murray State
OXFORD, Miss. – Playing on a beautiful Tuesday morning at Swayze Field, Ole Miss (20-12) jumped ahead of Murray State (15-16) early and didn’t look back, defeating the Racers 8-2.
Drew McDaniel earned his third win on the hill, tossing five frames with one run allowed with eight strikeouts. A strong performance from the Rebel bullpen was highlighted by the return of Max Cioffi, who struck out a pair in one complete inning in his first action back from UCL surgery.
After McDaniel struck out the side in the top of the first, the Rebel bats went to work in the bottom half. Jacob Gonzalez led off with a single and scored shortly thereafter on Justin Bench’s double to the left-center gap. Kevin Graham brought home Bench with a sac fly and Reagan Burford followed with an infield single, with Tim Elko scoring on a throwing error to make it 3-0 early.
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“The difference today was that be was able to throw three pitches into the strike zone,” head coach Mike Bianco said of McDaniel. “He has a really good breaking ball. When you throw three kinds of pitches into the strike zone, it makes things difficult for the other team. That was really the deal today, the whole game. That’s back-to-back outings where he threw really well.”
Murray State got a run back with back-to-back doubles in the sixth but Ole Miss answered and more in the home half of the frame with two-baggers of its own, striking for five to widen the gap.
Kemp Alderman scored the first run on a wild pitch, with Calvin Harris and Banks Tolley coming home later on Jacob Gonzalez’s double hard off the right field wall. A few pitches later, Bench doubled to the left field wall to bring home Gonzalez before Graham also plastered a double off the right field wall to plate Bench.
The Racers pulled a run back in the eighth inning but Ole Miss was able to cruise to victory, securing a Kids Day win to gain some momentum heading back into SEC play over the weekend.
The Rebels will now head to Columbia, South Carolina for a Thursday-Saturday series with the Gamecocks. All three games will be available for streaming through SEC Network +, with the call being heard on the Ole Miss Radio Network.
“This was the day we set for the past two weeks,” Cioffi said of his much-anticipated return. “I circled April 12 on the calendar. I was up early this morning. I feel like I’m at like 92 percent from where I was last year. I feel confident enough to be out there and compete. I’m ready to be out there.”
