No. 17 Ole Miss drops finale, series with No. 5 Georgia

OXFORD – No. 17 Ole Miss left eight runners on base in its finale against No. 5 Georgia on Sunday afternoon, and despite another quality start from sophomore Taylor Rabe, the Rebels dropped the rubber match of the series to the Bulldogs 5-1 at Swayze Field.

Ole Miss (31-14, 11-10 SEC) won the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader, while the Bulldogs won Games 2 and 3.

The loss snaps the Rebels’ streak of three straight SEC series wins. Rabe pitched six innings and surrendered three earned runs. He had six strikeouts and did not walk a batter. Sophomore Walker Hooks pitched the final three innings and surrendered two runs, though neither was earned.

After scoring 17 runs on 18 hits over the first two games of the series, Ole Miss mustered just one run on five hits Sunday. The Rebels went 1 for 8 with runners in scoring position and 2 for 13 with runners on base in the finale.

Sophomore outfielder Hayden Federico did not start in center field due to what head coach Mike Bianco described as a strained quadricep, though he pinch-hit in the seventh inning. Senior Judd Utermark, the Rebels’ usual third baseman, started in center.

Georgia (34-11, 15-6) starting pitcher Caden Aoki – a day after surrendering four earned runs in 1 2/3 innings in relief – threw six innings with one earned run allowed Sunday. He struck out seven batters and walked two. Scheduled starter Dylan Vigue was scratched from the start before the game.

“(Aoki had) two different breaking balls, one with a little more depth. And much like (Paul) Farley last night, we just really struggled,” Ole Miss coach Mike Bianco said. “ … When they scratched (Vigue), they went to him. A guy that’s already pitched, somebody with a deep breaking ball. … All day long, we either couldn’t touch it or swung over it. He was really good.”

After going 0 for 13 over the first two games of the series, senior outfielder Tristan Bissetta hit an infield single that set the Rebels up with runners on the corners with no outs in the first inning. Utermark proceeded to ground into a double play that scored the Rebels’ lone run in the game.

Georgia tied things up with two outs in the second on an RBI single from Ryan Wynn, though Rabe stranded the bases loaded to end the inning. Bulldogs star Daniel Jackson led the third off with a solo home run that put the Bulldogs in front for good.

Aoki left the game after six solid innings, and the Rebels didn’t have much luck against the Bulldogs’ relievers, either. Ole Miss loaded the bases in front of third baseman Owen Paino with two outs in the eighth, and the sophomore proceeded to strike out swinging to end the frame. Georgia added a pair of unearned runs in the ninth.

Bulldog pitchers struck out 13 batters and walked just three in the game.

“It was a tough weekend with all the games back-to-back-to-back like that. But this league is a tough league, and we played three really close games against a good team and, come up short in two of them," Rabe said. "But I think you can’t get too discouraged about that result and, obviously, we have things that we need to do better.”