Ole Miss Defeats Vanderbilt, 3-1

3/21/2004

Ole Miss Defeats Vanderbilt, 3-1
Rebels sweep series

OXFORD, Miss. — No. 11 Ole Miss scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh to defeat No. 22 Vanderbilt, 3-1, at Oxford-University Stadium Sunday.

Ole Miss improves to 18-1 overall and 3-1 in the SEC, while Vanderbilt is now 14-5 and 0-3.

Vanderbilt got on the board first when Ryan Klosterman led off the game by doubling down the left field line on the second pitch from Ole Miss starter Brae Wright. After Antoan Richardson’s sacrifice bunt moved Klosterman to third, Cesar Nicolas’ single up the middle gave the Commodores an early 1-0 lead.

Ole Miss rallied and tied the game at 1-1 on Brian Pettway scored on Chris Coughland’s bases loaded fielder’s choice. Ryan Mullins hit the next batter but then got out of the jam by getting Cooper Osteen to ground into a fielder’s choice.

VU threatened in the third when they had runners on second and third with one out, but Warner Jones grounded out to the pitcher and Cesar Nicolas lined out to the third to end the inning.

Wright (5-0) scattered seven hits and walked one, while striking out eight in winning his fifth straight start.

Sophomore left-hander Ryan Mullins (2-1) limited the Rebels to just five hits and walked one, but was hurt by two Commodore errors in the seventh inning that led to two unearned runs. He also struck out eight.

With the score tied 1-1 in the seventh, Charlie Babineaux reached on a fielding error by Tony Mansolino to start the inning. Chris Coghlan was then hit by a pitch and Barry Gunther reached on a bunt single to load the bases with no outs.

After Cooper Osteen struck out for the first out of the inning, Matt Tolbert hit a ground ball to short. Gunther was forced out at second, but second baseman Warner Jones’ throw to first to complete a double play was errant. Babineaux and Coghlan would both score to make it 3-1.

Vanderbilt out-hit Ole Miss 7-5 on the afternoon as Jones was 2-for-4 at the plate for the Commodores. He also extended his hitting streak to 26 games — just one shy of tying the school record set by Greg Thomas in 1991.

Osteen went 0-for-4 as his 11-game hitting streak was snapped.

Vanderbilt will return to action on Tuesday, March 24, when it opens a 10-game homestand with a contest against Morehead State. VU will then play host to Georgia in a weekend series that will begin Friday at 6 p.m.