Saunier Debuts, Ole Miss Baseball Clinches Series Over Delaware

The Rebels earned a series win to start the season on Saturday afternoon.

OXFORD, Miss. -- The Ole Miss Rebels saw a debut from a highly-touted freshman on Saturday en route to a series-clinching 10-0 win over the Delaware Blue Hens in eight innings.

Freshman righty Grayson Saunier took the mound for Ole Miss in game two of the weekend set, throwing four innings of scoreless ball. Walks, however, were a problem for Saunier along with the Rebels pitching staff as a whole as he surrendered four free passes in those innings.

Offensively, the Rebels started off with a bang, pushing three runs across in the first inning and one in the second. Shortstop Jacob Gonzalez got the scoring started with an RBI single in the first, and he was followed by RBIs from Anthony Calarco, Ethan Lege and Calvin Harris in the first two innings.

The Rebels also pushed across one run in the sixth inning and three in the seventh to extend the lead. Judd Utermark hit a three-run home run in the seventh in his first career at-bat, pushing the Ole Miss lead to 8-0. 

Garrett Wood was responsible for a two-run single in the bottom of the eighth that put the run rule into effect, giving the Rebels the win. 

Out of the bullpen, the Rebels utilized Sam Tookoian, Jackson Kimbrell and Jack Dougherty who kept the Blue Hens off the scoreboard on Saturday. As a whole, the Rebels staff surrendered six walks on the day, but they got the job done in terms of throwing a shutout. 

With Saturday's victory, Ole Miss improves to 2-0 on the young season, and it will conclude its weekend series against the Blue Hens on Sunday. First pitch is scheduled for noon CT on SEC Network+.

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You can follow John Macon on Twitter at @JMakeGillespie.

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