No. 9 Ole Miss baseball tops Arkansas State, 15-12

There were 27 runs scored, 34 hits scattered, three errors and Derek Diamond notched his first save of the year in a wild Ole Miss victory at Swayze Field Tuesday.

The No. 9 Rebels (32-12, 13-8 SEC) overcame a flurry of offense in the sixth inning from Arkansas St. (14-23) and posted a 15-12 victory. Josh Mallitz (4-1) earned the win in the game that lasted a little more than four hours to complete.

Ole Miss jumped out to a big 11-2 lead by the end of the fourth inning as offense was of no issue for the Rebels. Justin Bench, Ben Van Cleve and Peyton Chatagnier combined to go 11 of 15 from the plate with eight RBI, which seems pretty good and let’s just expect that every game from now ‘til the end of the postseason.

The Red Wolves unleashed an onslaught on the Rebel pitching staff in the top of the sixth, dropping eight runs on their head. Ole Miss answered with two runs in the bottom of the sixth and seventh to put the game permanently out of reach.

Next up for the Rebels is a road trip to College Station, Tex. to play a three game SEC series against Texas A&M. Ole Miss is in a tight, SEC West race with Arkansas and Mississippi St. with only two games separating first and third place in the division with nine conference games left to play.