Rebels take Saturday game from Dawgs

ATHENS - The 25th-ranked Ole Miss Rebels used a six-run outburst in the eighth inning Saturday to post a 9-4 win over eighth-ranked Georgia at Foley Field.

Junior reliever Scott Bittle picked up the win for the Rebels (31-18, 12-11 SEC), tossing 2.2 scoreless innings with five strikeouts. The Bulldogs dropped to 30-15-1 overall and 16-6-1 in the SEC and lost for just the second time this year when leading after seven innings. Georgia is now 25-2 when leading after seven innings.  

  Cody Overbeck’s two-out run-scoring single in the first gave the Rebels a 1-0 lead. In the third, Georgia surged in front 3-1 courtesy of Rich Poythress’s 10th home run of the year, a three-run blast over the trees in left field. Senior Ryan Peisel started the frame with a double. After retiring Matt Olson on a groundout, the Rebels opted to intentionally walk Gordon Beckham. Poythress followed and gave the Bulldogs the lead, delivering again after teams pitch around him. Poythress is batting .583 (7-for-12) with nine RBI and a walk following Beckham’s 13 intentional walks.

   The Rebels trimmed the lead to 3-2 in the fifth when Fuller Smith lined a two-out single to left field, scoring Brent Basham who had reached on a base hit and took second on a sacrifice bunt by Jordan Henry. The Rebels tied the game in the seventh on a throwing error by Bulldog second baseman Michael Demperio. Bashamed bounced one to Demperio who looked to force Sean Stuyverson at second but his throw was wide of the bag and ended up in left field. Stuvyerson scored on the play and Basham made it to third. Georgia lifted right-hander Stephen Dodson and looked to left-hander Alex McRee. With the infield in, McRee struck out the left-handed hitting Henry and then retired Smith to keep it 3-3.  

  The Bulldogs reclaimed a 4-3 advantage in the bottom of the seventh thanks to Ryan Peisel’s sixth home run of the season. After a walk to Matt Olson, Ole Miss lifted left-hander Drew Pomeranz and brought in Bittle who kept it a one-run contest. In the eighth, Logan Power reached on a leadoff walk. Then on a 1-0 count, Georgia lifted McRee in favor of Nick Montgomery. Overbeck greeted him with a game-tying, RBI-double. After a sacrifice bunt by Smith moved pinch-runner Tim Ferguson to third, Zach Miller’s sacrifice fly brought him home and gave Ole Miss a 5-4 edge. Two batters latter, Basham lined a run-scoring double to left to make it 6-4. At that point, Georgia looked to sophomore left-hander Justin Earls. However, Henry drilled his first offering to the gap in right center for a two-run double and an 8-4 lead. The Rebels would add one more run for the final margin. Montgomery got the loss, allowing four runs on four hits to fall to 1-1.  

  “Ole Miss did a good job hitting today, and our bullpen wasn’t very sharp, it was like in the beginning of the season against Arizona and Oregon State where we gave up a lot of runs late in the game,” said Georgia coach David Perno. “We got some timely home runs, both which gave us a lead, but we couldn’t get the game to Joshua Fields. You have to give credit to Ole Miss, they broke through there in the eighth.”

  The rubber game of the series willl be Sunday at 2 p.m. Georgia will start junior left-hander Nathan Moreau (1-2, 5.06 ERA) while the Rebels will go with junior right-hander Cody Satterwhite ((3-4, 4.91 ERA).