PEARL — Ole Miss continues to stay hot.
Behind a two big innings along with the hitting of Tristan Bissetta, No. 25-ranked Ole Miss raced past No. 22-ranked Southern Miss 10-3 to extend their winning streak to six games at Trustmark Park on Tuesday night.
“We’ve been pitching at a really high level all year long and we’re now picking it up the past couple weeks swinging the bats and it’s been huge and tonight was no different,” said Ole Miss coach Mike Bianco. “Tristan is a guy that can really carry you and we’re glad he’s swinging the bat well.”
Ole Miss scored five runs in the bottom of the third to take a 5-0 lead as Owen Paino led the inning off with a double and scored on a single from Bissetta, Will Furniss delivered an RBI single, Cannon Goldin added a pinch hit two-run single, and Dom Decker had a sacrifice fly.
Bissetta added a solo home run to right field in the fourth to extend the Ole Miss lead to 6-0.
Bissetta went 4-for-5 at the plate with two doubles, a home run, three runs scored, and two RBI’s to lead the Rebels offense.
“I just got some good pitches to hit, and tonight was all about competing against a really good team,” Bissetta said. “We got the best of them today with the opportunity of putting up runs early and capitalize. We’ve had guys to contribute up and down the lineup a lot lately and looks really good to do that.”
The Rebels added four more runs in the sixth to stretch their lead to 10-1 as Dom Decker scored off fielding error and Will Furniss delivered a three-run double down the right field line.
Lamdon Koenig got the win on the mound in relief for Ole Miss.
“A lot of guys throughout the lineup are swinging the bat well and capitalizing when their opportunity comes,” Bianco said. “Pitching needs to stay consistent and keep doing what they’ve been doing. We got the second half of the SEC is coming up and at Tennessee this weekend, and a place that’s difficult to play, so we got our hands full.”
Seth Smith extended his hitting streak to eight games with a single in the third. Matthew Russo had a solo home run to left field for Southern Miss in the sixth to cut the Ole Miss lead to 6-1. Russo had two hits to lead Southern Miss offensively.
“That’s a really good lineup and we didn’t make enough plays and those two crooked innings against a really good team were costly,” said Southern Miss coach Christian Ostrander. “It’s pretty obvious we haven’t been playing our best baseball in the past couple of weeks and ultimately right now is going out there and getting our next win. We got to do everything we got to do on Friday night to win and get the confidence back. We believe and they got to go perform.”
Joey Urban had a bases loaded walk and Gray Eubanks scored on a groundout in the seventh for the Golden Eagles to cut the lead to 10-3.
Both teams head back into conference play this weekend as Ole Miss (27-11, 8-7 SEC) travels to Tennessee, while Southern Miss (25-12, 8-7 Sun Belt) hosts Texas State.
