The Recap: No. 6 Ole Miss Baseball Crumbles Late in Series Loss to No. 5 Tennessee

The No. 6 Ole Miss Rebels fell short on Sunday afternoon to the No. 5 Tennessee Volunteers in a 10-8 loss at Swayze Field with the program recording its second SEC series loss of the season.

The Volunteers opened the scoring in the first as they capitalized on a dropped fly ball from Mitchell Sanford and a pair of walks before Dalton Bargo hit a ball deep into the the outfield.

From there, Sanford caught it with a a runner crossing for Tennessee; giving them an early 1-0 lead.

The Vols looked threatening again in the second with a runner on second and two outs as Hunter Ensley hit a low liner into the gap that Rebels center fielder Isaac Humphrey snagged on a dive to prevent a runner and end the inning.

The Rebels put themselves on the board with two down in the second as Austin Fawley launched his third home run of the weekend; driving in himself and Ryan Moreman as the Rebels took the lead 2-1.

Tennessee instantly tied it back up as the former Rebel, Andrew Ficsher, sent a no doubt shot into the Swayze Field stands to tie the game at two.

Ole Miss kept their foot on the gas however, as they scraped across a run as Will Furniss smacked a single through the infield to allow Humphrey to come around and score; reinstating the Rebels' lead 3-2.

The Rebels found themselves in trouble in the 6th as Tennessee put more on the board.

The inning started with a Cannon Peebles two-run shot to give Tennessee the lead once again.

Gavin Kielen then came through with an RBI single followed by a passed ball allowing Kielen to come around and score.

Dean Curly then capped off the inning with an RBI knock of his own as he extended Tennessee's lead up to 7-3.

Ole Miss responded, however, in the bottom half of the inning after putting across three runs of their own.

The inning opened with a triple from Sanford where Judd Utermark knocked him with a double of his own.

Utermark then crossed the dish as Hayden Federico smacked a base hit up the middle moving Luke Cheng to third.

Hill then capped off the inning as he beat out a double play allowing Cheng to cross the plate and cut the lead to just one through six innings of work.

Ole Miss kept their foot on the on the gas as they knotted the game even once again with Utermark sending a towering fly ball to the warning track for a sacrifice fly as Moreman crossed the plate making it a 7-7 ball game

Ole Miss stayed relentless and with a pair of outs in the bottom of the eighth when Hill was standing on third.

Tennessee reliever Nate Snead missed low and in on Furniss with Hill to scurrying across the plate for the go-ahead run to make it 8-7 Rebels with just three outs to go.

The Volunteers weren’t done yet however as in the top of the ninth they drew a lead off walk; knocking out Gunnar Dennis getting to Brayden Jones.

Reece Chapman then took advantage after hitting a line drive two-run home run to give the Vols the lead at 9-8.

Tennessee added another insurance run in the top of the ninth as Ensley smacked a base knock into the outfield with Manny Marin coming across to score; giving Tennessee a 10-8 lead.

The Rebels put themselves in position with multiple base runners in the ninth, but Federico rolled over to second base as Tennessee held on to win.

This loss now puts the Rebels at 27-9 on the year and 9-6 in SEC play while the Volunteers move to 31-5 and 11-4 in conference play.

The Rebels return to action on Tuesday as they host the Little Rock Trojans at 11 a.m. CT before hitting the road to take on the South Carolina Gamecocks for a weekend series.

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