OXFORD, Miss. – No. 9 Vanderbilt fell 8-3 in the series opener at No. 23 Ole Miss on Friday night at Swayze Field.
The Commodores fell behind early but rallied late before the Rebels pulled away in the eighth to take Game 1.
Ole Miss hit a leadoff home run in the bottom of the first. Vanderbilt responded with a leadoff triple in the top of the second off the bat of Jacob Humphrey.
Humphrey scored on a Colin Barczi sac fly to even the game at 1-1.
After allowing the leadoff homer, JD Thompson settled in on the mound and held Ole Miss scoreless over the next three innings.
Ole Miss broke the tie in the bottom of the fifth with four runs on four hits and a pair of wild pitches.
The Rebels took their 5-1 lead to the eighth before Braden Holcomb launched an opposite field, two-run blast to cut Vandy’s deficit down to two.
Ole Miss took advantage of two more wild pitches, an error and a two-run homer in the home half of the eighth to thwart Vandy’s comeback efforts and take the series opener, 8-3.
Both teams now sit at 30-12 on the season and 11-8 in SEC action. Vanderbilt and Ole Miss will meet Saturday at 5 p.m. for Game 2 on SEC Network.
