Skip to main content
ole-miss logo

Ole Miss works on fundamentals in win over UT Martin to wrap up non-conference play

11by:Jake Thompson•05/13/25•

JakeThompsonOn3

Gq3o7hgWMAADGIY
Ole Miss designated hitter Ethan Surowiec. Mandatory credit: Ole Miss athletics

Coming off the weekend series loss at Mississippi State there was one thing Ole Miss worked on Sunday and Monday, getting back to the fundamentals.

So back to the basics it was in the Rebels 11-5 win over UT Martin on Tuesday at Oxford-University Stadium, putting a bow on non-conference and midweek games for the season.

With home runs from Mitchell Sanford, Will Furniss and Ethan Surowiec the offense returned in bulk for Ole Miss (35-17).

Of course it could be argued it was the competition, and fair enough, but after the anemic offense the Rebels have put up most of the last two Southeastern Conference series against Oklahoma and the Bulldogs, it was nice to see some crooked number innings again.

Sanford got a pair of home runs, increasing his season total to 14 and tying Judd Utermark. Furniss hit his in the third inning and Surowiec’s came in the second inning.

It was the second home run of the season for the freshman in his first career start. Suroweic went 1-for-2 but also drew a pair of walks.

“He’s earned this and we’ve tried to figure out how to get him some at-bats and it’s tough,” Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco said. “In the live (batting practices) in practice of the guys who don’t play much he’s really separated himself and has done really well. Kind of penciled like we were going to have to get him a start by the end of the year. Just to get him more than just on at-bat at the end of a game.”

Defense also stepped up, looking better than it did at times in Starkville.

Ole Miss turned a pair of double plays and Isaac Humphrey made a throw from center field that short stop Luke Cheng relayed to home to get an out and end a rally by the Skyhawks (20-31) in the sixth inning.

“Kind of back to fundamentals,” Bianco said. “I just felt like this past weekend it was disappointing because, fundamentally, we didn’t play great baseball. You got to make plays to get off the field and we did. We talked about cutoffs (at practice). We talked about backing up bases. We talked about a lot of different things. So, that was one of the things we covered.”

Cade Townsend got his usual midweek start, working four innings and giving up two runs off three hits while striking out a pair and walking two other UT Martin batters. Gunnar Dennis picked up the win going one inning of scoreless relief in the fifth.

Ole Miss will start its final SEC series of the season on Thursday, hosting No. 6 Auburn for the three-game stint as the tuneup for next week’s SEC Tournament and one last chance to improve its NCAA Tournament résumé.

You may also like