Rebels Ride Offensive Explosion to 14-6 Win Over Texas A&M

OXFORD, Miss. -- Ole Miss scored in all but two innings on Friday night as it evened its series with No. 6 Texas A&M with a 14-6 win at Swayze Field.

The Aggies jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning, but unlike in Thursday night's loss, Ole Miss had the game tied by the end of the second. From that point on, the Rebels scored multiple runs in each inning from the third through the fifth and again scored three runs in the seventh.

Jacob Gonzalez and Kemp Alderman both had home runs for the Rebels, both of which came in the seventh inning. Alderman and Kevin Graham led Ole Miss in RBIs with four and three apiece.

Jacob Gonzalez went 3-for-6 on Friday night with a home run in the seventh inning. Photo courtesy of Ole Miss athletics.

Kemp Alderman followed Gonzalez's seventh inning homer with a two-run shot of his own. Photo courtesy of Ole Miss athletics.

Hayden Dunhurst was also active at the plate, going 2-for-3 with an RBI. Photo courtesy of Ole Miss athletics.

Although Ole Miss fought back from a 7-0 deficit on Thursday night, it was unable to come away with the win. Friday night, however, went differently, and Graham credits that to the Rebels' maturity.

"We played well yesterday," Graham said. "Just didn't do enough to win that ballgame. I don't think anyone had any doubts about us going out and playing great today. We're just playing well right now, and this is a fun group of guys to be around.

"We're an old team, and the guys in our lineup, we've done that a lot in our time here. That's us. We're not going to panic when we're down 3-0 early. We'll get our runs."

Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco was suspended for Friday's Rebel win due to being ejected in Thursday night's loss. Mike Clement was acting head coach and was made available to media after the game where he discussed the Rebels' offensive mindset and approach on Friday night.

"We felt pretty good, and we knew they had scuffled a little bit on who they start," Clement said. "It was important for us to get that guy out of the game. The one bright spot from last night is that we forced them to use some of their main relievers. They needed to get some guys extended out of their pen, and we were able to extend the lead and hold onto it."

Hunter Elliott drew the start on the hill for Ole Miss, lasting four innings and giving up four earned runs. Elliott was relieved on the mound by Jack Washburn and Josh Mallitz. In all, the Rebel pitching staff struck out eight on Friday night.

Although he only lasted four innings, Elliott seemed to settle in after surrendering three runs in the first inning. Photo courtesy of Ole Miss athletics.

Josh Mallitz went 3.1 innings on Friday night, closing out the game for the Rebels on the hill. Photo courtesy of Ole Miss athletics.

"It wasn't Elliott's best effort," Clement said, "but after he gave up the three, he hung four zeros up there and probably ran out of steam in the fifth. He was able to put those zeros up and allow us to run away from them a little bit."

With the win, Ole Miss improves to 32-20 overall and 14-15 in SEC play. The Rebels will look to take the series over the Aggies on Saturday when they close out the regular season at 1:30 p.m. CT. The game will be broadcast on SEC Network+.

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