Ole Miss Knocks Off UCF, Wins Series in Orlando

ORLANDO, Fla. -- No. 2 Ole Miss baseball picked up its 10th win of the season on Sunday in a series-clinching victory over Central Florida.

After a rough outing at the plate for the Rebel offense on Saturday, the bats found their groove again on Sunday, putting up 15 hits in a 9-1 victory. Kemp Alderman and Reagan Burford both led the team in hits with three apiece, and Peyton Chatagnier led Ole Miss in RBIs with four.

Although Kevin Graham was absent from the lineup due to a wrist injury, the Rebel offense was able to respond in a big way on Sunday. Graham will be further evaluated once the team returns to Oxford, but for now, Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco is proud of his team's performance to win the series on Sunday.

"That's one of the things you hope," Bianco said. "You're not going to win all 56. Today was a challenge for our offense with Kevin Graham out of the lineup. We made [Hunter Patteson] work, but I'm proud of the way the offense answered."

"We came out and responded," Ole Miss catcher Hayden Dunhurst said. "Pitching was just as dominant as yesterday's was. We couldn't ask for anything better to end the weekend."

Ole Miss starter Drew McDaniel, who dueled with UCF's Patteson, only went 2.1 innings, but Jackson Kimbrell and Dylan DeLucia went the distance for the Rebels in relief on Sunday.

"The bullpen I thought was tremendous," Bianco said, "and that was the exclamation mark at the end with [DeLucia] handling the last four innings.

"[McDaniel] has to be more dominant. He doesn't look comfortable out there, and we've all seen him better than that."

On the bullpen front, this was a strong weekend for Ole Miss' relievers.

"I think we've got so much more confidence," Kimbrell said. "Freshmen coming in this year are really polished, and we have a lot of old guys in the bullpen. I think people are ready to throw now that it's their time to."

DeLucia is one of those newcomers, albeit a transfer, who felt good with his stuff today off the mound, and his confidence is strong in his teammates through 11 games this season.

"We've got such a good ball club," DeLucia said. "You talk about a team that scores nine runs a game on average, it's hard not to win a ballgame like that."

With the win, Ole Miss improves to 10-1 on the season and will return home to host Memphis and Alcorn State on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively, this week. First pitch against Memphis is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. CT on SEC Network+.

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