OXFORD – No. 24 Ole Miss hit four home runs Tuesday night against No. 22 Southern Miss – including the first of freshman shortstop Owen Paino’s career – and the Rebels notched their third win over a top-25 team this season with a 15-8 victory over the Golden Eagles at Swayze Field.
Ole Miss (7-1) scored in six separate innings, and Rebel hitters walked 11 times and were hit by five pitches five. Southern Miss (7-2) hit four home runs in the game, and the Rebels committed four errors.
Sophomore catcher Austin Fawley hit a home run and drove in a team-high four runs.
“It felt amazing,” Paino said. “I’ve struggled, beginning of the year, so seeing that one come off the bat, seeing my teammates’ reaction to me succeeding, felt amazing. (I) felt like I finally did something to help the team … The Rebs are back, I’m back, and we’re going to keep the momentum going.”
Ole Miss scored three runs in the first inning by way of a two-out, two-run single from junior third baseman Judd Utermark and a bases-loaded walk to Fawley. The Golden Eagles tacked on a run in the second on a solo home run from Nick Monistere and a run in the third on an RBI single from Davis Gillespie.
The Rebels scored three more runs in the third – highlighted by a towering two-run home run from Fawley – before Southern Miss scored three in the top of the fourth to make it 6-5.
Junior Will McCausland, a Saint Joseph’s transfer, started for Ole Miss and went 3 1/3 innings, allowing three earned runs with four strikeouts.
Ole Miss loaded the bases in the bottom of the fourth and scored a pair of runs on a walk and hit batter. Senior outfielder Mitchell Sanford hit a two-run double in the fifth to give the Rebels a four-run cushion. After having already scored a run earlier in the inning, Southern Miss loaded the bases with no outs in the sixth. Junior Brayden Jones inherited the jam and proceeded to get out of the inning unscathed.
“I’ve gained a lot of confidence in all of my pitches and, just knowing before I even set foot on that mound, that I have to have that confidence when I go in,” Jones said. “Once I get to that mound, I know what my stuff is going to do, I know that I can attack each hitter, it doesn’t matter who it is, and I’m going to go right at them.”
Paino hit his home run – just his second hit of the season – in the bottom of the inning. Senior outfielder Ryan Moerman hit a two-run home run in the eighth, and Sanford hit a solo home run in the very next at-bat.
“I thought we left some guys on early, but then later in the game we got some big swings,” head coach Mike Bianco said.
Ole Miss hosts Wright State for a weekend series starting Friday at 4 p.m. The game will be broadcast on SEC Network+.
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