No. 24 Ole Miss secures second sweep of the season, beating Wright State in finale
Through the first three weekends of the baseball season there is not a lot that No. 24 Ole Miss is too unhappy about.
On Sunday the Rebels defeated Wright State, 7-3, to cap their second straight series sweep and their ninth straight victory.
Similar to Saturday the game was ho-hum with Ole Miss (10-1) once again jumping out to an early lead with a three-spot in the first inning. The offense added a run in the third inning and three more in the fifth.
Judd Utermark hit his fifth home run of the season, a solo shot to right field in the fifth inning and leads Ryan Moerman by one for the team-high. Two batters later catcher Austin Fawley hit his first home run in an Ole Miss uniform, a two-run shot to left field.
On the mound It was ‘Mason Day’ with starter Mason Nichols and Mason Morris having strong outings.
Nichols in his third Sunday start of the season went four innings, giving up three runs — all earned — off four hits. A three-run home run by Wright State’s Boston Smith the only blemish on Nichols day.
The bigger takeaway was the new career-high 10 strikeouts Nichols recorded while issuing only one walk. His previous career best was five strikeouts in a game six different times.
“I feel like I’ve been a little bit better each time (out),” Nichols said. “That’s the goal this time of year is to keep improving and try and limit where I can. I can do a better job of that in the future but I’m proud of the performance today. Not just by me, but the guys who came in after me.”
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Morris was the first guy out of the bullpen and went three shutout innings of relief, striking out four and walking another Raiders batter.
Brayden Jones and Connor Spencer worked an inning each giving up zero runs for a combined three strikeouts.
The Ole Miss arms as a whole threw 71.2 percent of their pitches for strikes on Sunday (79 of 111 pitches).
“Two walks and 17 punches, that’s a really good day,” Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco said. “(Wright State) put together a good third with a double and the big home run by Smith, but beyond that we were super dominant.”
Ole Miss is scheduled for two midweek games next week, hosting Southeastern Louisiana on Tuesday then Murray State on Wednesday. There is potentially strong weather rolling in on Tuesday, so the game with SELA could be in doubt.
