Ole Miss Unable to Sweep South Carolina in Game 3

The Ole Miss Rebels lost their first SEC matchup of the 2024 season on Sunday afternoon to the No. 20 South Carolina Gamecocks.

OXFORD, Miss. -- After starting the weekend strong with back-to-back victories over the No. 20 South Carolina Gamecocks, the Ole Miss Rebels dropped Game 3 of their first SEC series on Sunday afternoon, losing 6-2 at Swayze Field. 

The loss put an end to Ole Miss' nine-game winning streak, but fortunately, the Rebels already secured their first SEC series win of the season - already tying their series win total from a season ago.

After scoring 17 runs the last two games, Ole Miss' offense was silent until the sixth inning on Sunday afternoon, but by that time the Gamecocks had already dealt enough damage.

Ole Miss Athletics

Sophomore RHP Grayson Saunier made his fifth start of the season on Sunday afternoon, but this was not a exactly a "Saunday" to remember. After posting 5.0 innings of work in his last two starts and allowing a total of zero runs, Saunier only made it 4.1 innings versus South Carolina and allowed nine hits, five earned runs, one home run, and one walk. 

Saunier got no help from his offense, and the Rebels found themselves in a 6-0 hole by the fifth inning. Freshman LHP Austin Simmons came out of the bullpen to replace Saunier, but the southpaw could not find his groove, and was pulled after 0.2 innings. Simmons allowed one walk in his sixth appearance of the season. Senior RHP Mitch Murrell followed up Simmons with 1.1 innings of work, and sophomore Kyler Carmack closed the game for the Rebels. 

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Carmack went 2.2 innings and posted one hit, two walks, and three strikes in his third appearance of the season.

Ole Miss struggled to score runs on Sunday, but managed to get on the board in the bottom of the sixth thanks to the first triple of Treyson Hughe's young career as a Rebel. Hughes finished his day with one hit, one walk, one RBI, and one run scored. Luke Hill scored the second and final run of the day for Ole Miss on a groundout which scored Hughes after he hit his triple.

The Rebels will now hit the road to take on the Southern Miss Golden Eagles in Pearl, Miss., on Tuesday. First pitch is set for 6:00 p.m. CT, and the game will be televised on SEC Network+.