Ninth Inning Magic Gives Baseball Series Win in Auburn - Ole Miss ...
AUBURN, Ala. – Ole Miss (25-21, 9-14 SEC) used patience at the plate and stellar bullpen work to win a back-and-forth battle with Auburn (21-24, 3-20 SEC) Saturday night 5-4. With the win, the Rebels won their first road series since 2022 and have now won three of their last four series against the Tigers.
Andrew Fischer had another big night, going 2-for-4 with a home run and three RBI. Luke Hill went 2-for-4 with a run scored and Jackson Ross drew two more walks to push his season total to 47.
Josh Mallitz and Wes Mendes turned in scoreless outings from the bullpen, combining to give up just two hits over 5.1 innings.
Auburn scored first in this one, putting up two unearned runs in the bottom of the first inning as another Ole Miss error came back to bite them.
The Rebels scored their first run in the top of the second as Luke Hill led off with a single to left field. He moved to second on a Tiger error and scored as Judd Utermark broke up a double play attempt that would have had Auburn out of the inning.
After Liam Doyle sat the Tigers down in order in the second, Ole Miss tied the game in the third as Ethan Groff opened the inning with a double down the left field line. Fischer moved him to third with a single through the right side and he would come around to score on a sacrifice fly from Jackson Ross.
Auburn took the lead back in the fourth inning, scoring two runs on two hits, a walk, a hit by pitch, and a sacrifice fly of their own.
Fischer hit his second home run of the weekend in the fifth to tie the game at 4-4. He sent another ball a long way over the right field fence to give him five RBI on the weekend.
Mendes came out of the bullpen with one runner on in the seventh inning and retired eight of the nine hitters he faced. He used just 33 pitches over three hitless innings of work to keep the Tigers quiet.
Treyson Hughes opened the visiting half of the ninth inning with a walk and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt from Eli Berch. Campbell Smithwick drew a pinch-hit walk followed by a walk from Groff to load the bases with one out.
After a lengthy battle, Fischer drove a deep fly ball to right center that scored Hughes from third and give the Rebels a 5-4 lead. Mendes closed out the Tigers in the bottom of the ninth and secured the series win.
Ole Miss will go for the road sweep tomorrow afternoon on SEC Network.
Keep up with all the latest news and information on the Rebels by following Ole Miss baseball on X at @OleMissBSB, on Facebook at Facebook.com/OleMissBaseball, on Instagram at Instagram.com/officialolemissbsb and on TikTok at @olemissbsb. Also, follow head coach Mike Bianco on X at @CoachMikeBianco.
