Ole Miss Baseball Battles Back, Loses Heartbreaking Series To South Carolina

The Rebels fought back to tie the game in the ninth before giving up the winning run in the bottom half of Saturday's game.

OXFORD, Miss. -- If you're looking for a microcosm of Ole Miss' 2022 baseball season, look no further than Saturday's 9-8 loss to South Carolina.

The Rebels trailed 8-4 entering the top of the ninth inning, but they managed to scrap together baserunners and push four runs across the plate to tie the game. The climax of that sequence was a Kemp Alderman double with two outs to send the tying runs home.

After that, however, it didn't take long for South Carolina to jump back on top and seal the win.

Drew McDaniel entered on the mound, and due to a multitude of pinch hit situations and an injury to Hayden Dunhurst, Alderman moved behind the plate to catch. The Gamecocks got some runners aboard, and a passed ball put a runner at third before a sacrifice fly brought him home to end the game.

Carleigh Holt-The Grove Report

Kemp Alderman

Carleigh Holt-The Grove Report

Kemp Alderman

Carleigh Holt-The Grove Report

Kemp Alderman

The Rebels sit at 21-14 overall and 5-10 in conference play at the halfway point of the SEC season. Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco spoke after the game on the difficult road his team has tread thus far. 

"It's been tough," Bianco said. "Today's kind of a microcosm of that. In the beginning, it looked like we weren't going to score enough runs and were pitching it pretty well. Then, we started to score some runs, and we can't keep them off the scoreboard.

"It's been tough to be really consistent. When we are, we can be pretty good, but we haven't been able to do that consistently."

Kevin Graham, who went 2-for-5 at the plate on Saturday, also discussed where he believes his team is at the halfway point of conference play.

"Obviously, we're not where we need to be," Graham said. "We've played with a lot more fight these last few games. I've got all the faith in the world that we're going to turn this thing around. We're too talented of a team."

Kevin Graham

Kevin Graham

Carleigh Holt-The Grove Report

Kevin Graham

After dropping this road series to the Gamecocks, the Rebels return home to face Southeast Missouri on Tuesday before hosting Mississippi State next weekend.

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