The No. 4 Rebels (8-2) faced off against No. 18 Maryland (4-5) on Friday afternoon and won 5-1 to start their weekend off strong at the Cambria College Classic.
There’s a lot of familiarity between the Rebels and the Terrapins, as Ole Miss defeated them last weekend 2-1 in a three-game series. So when Maryland sent out right-handed pitcher Jason Savacool, he didn’t have as much success this go around against the Rebels.
In his previous matchup with Ole Miss, Savacool was lights out, pitching seven shutout innings and striking out nine batters en route to a 9-2 victory.
This time, Savacool’s stuff didn’t deceive the Rebel batters.
He pitched five innings and gave up five hits, three earned runs and struck-out two batters.
On the mound for the Rebels was right-hander Jack Dougherty, and you couldn’t ask for anything much better from the junior pitcher.
Dougherty pitched six innings and gave up three hits, three walks, one earned run and tallied seven strikeouts. He produced a career-high in innings pitched and tied his career-high in strikeouts.
The Ole Miss bullpen also had one of their strongest performances of the season.
Right-hander Mason Nichols sealed the victory for the Rebels as he pitched 2.2 hitless innings and struck-out four batters.
Taking a look at the offense, Ole Miss had nine hits and five runs that included a couple of home runs.
Those two home runs came from Ole Miss left fielder Kemp Alderman in the second inning and center fielder Ethan Groff who hit a moonshot in the fifth inning that produced two runs.
Groff really came through for the Rebels, as he was 2-for-5 at the plate and produced four RBIs.
It was a terrific all-around performance on both sides for the Rebels, and it’ll be interesting to see how they can build off this victory.
Ole Miss will play Minnesota on Saturday, Mar. 4 at 7 p.m. CST on B1G+.
