After three blowout wins during Opening Weekend, the Diamond Rebs fancied something a little more competitive. So they went out and found themselves a come-from-behind, walkoff 4-3 W against Arkansas State to improve to 4-0 on Wednesday night.
With the bases juiced and no outs in the bottom of the ninth, nine-hole hitter Cameron Dishon lifted a sac fly deep in the left-center gap, easily scoring the winning run from third. The inning got started when Henri Lartigue, who got off to a slow start last weekend after earning a spot as the cleanup hitter, roped a double down the left field line. An error on an attempted sac bunt put runners on the corners with no outs.
A-State opted to intentionally walk Connor Cloyd (who had just come in as a pinch hitter) to face the weaker hitter in Dishon and set up a force out at home. Dishon made them pay for the decision, though with lineup about to turn over with Errol Robinson, there was never much chance of escaping the jam anyway.
REBS WIN! REBS WIN! @CameronDishon with a 9th-inning sac fly walkoff to beat ASU! @OleMissBSB pic.twitter.com/MRrb2yZMIG
— OleMissPix (@OleMissPix) February 25, 2016
Ole Miss trailed this game 2-0 after two innings and entered the bottom of eighth in a 3-2 hole. That's when Tate Blackman -- ya know, the guy who went 6-of-10 with six RBI and a homer during Opening Weekend -- decided to add a clutch two-out, game-tying single to his early-season haul. With a runner standing on second, Blackman sent a pitch back through the infield to even things up at 3-3 (and we'll forgive him for getting thrown out on a steal attempt to end the inning).
The offenses didn't look very good for most of the early going, but to pull out the comeback with some clutch at-bats should lend some confidence to this team next time they find themselves in a late hole ... confidence that could be pretty valuable heading into this weekend's series with No. 2 Louisville.