No. 1 Ole Miss baseball falls to UCF, 3-2

Top ranked Ole Miss’ 20-game winning streak came to an end against the unranked University of Central Florida Golden Knights on Friday night. As the kids say, that’s baseball.

It’s important not to have a football mindset when it comes to baseball, or else you’ll drive yourself crazy. Still, Ole Miss didn’t play particularly well in some aspects on Friday night. Doug Nikhazy was good on the hill despite giving up two solo home runs that gave UCF a 2-1 lead late in the game, but the Rebels had difficulty at the plate on the evening against a UCF team that has given up copious amounts of runs early on this season. Go figure.

The score stood at 2-1 in the ninth before a throwing error plated another Golden Knight run to make it 3-1. Despite a Hayden Dunhurst solo shot in the ninth, Ole Miss fell for the first time this season, falling to 4-1 on the year.

Again, an undefeated season wasn’t going to happen. What’s important now is how this young, but superbly-talented, team responds. They haven’t had a loss like this yet, and how they bounce back will tell a lot about them moving forward.

The Rebels meet with UCF again tomorrow in a doubleheader that will start at 1 p.m. on SEC Network+. The second game of the doubleheader will begin 45 minutes after the conclusion of game one.