HOOVER, Ala. — Tenth-ranked Ole Miss beat Georgia 4-0 in an SEC Tournament elimination game Thursday at the Hoover Met.
Junior left fielder Kevin Graham gave the Rebels a 1-0 advantage when he led off the bottom of the second with his 13th home run. Ole Miss added a run in the third on an RBI single by Jacob Gonzales. Georgia freshman starter Liam Sullivan managed the inning as the Rebels had to settle for just one, leaving the bases loaded. He would go the first three innings and allow two runs on four hits with two walks and six strikeouts.
“Drew McDaniel was the difference today," Georgia coach Scott Stricklin said. "He was really good on the mound. We faced a lot of good pitching in our games here, and we also didn’t have a very good approach overall. Offensively, we weren’t very good. The three arms we saw pitched extremely well. I thought McDaniel was outstanding today. We weren’t good enough to win yesterday or today, and we need to get better. I feel like we’ll be playing at least a couple more games next week, and we need to clean it up offensively.”
In the fourth, Georgia brought in sophomore right-hander Jonathan Cannon who went the rest of the way, tossing five innings and allowing two runs on three hits with five strikeouts. The Rebels extended their lead to 4-0 in the fifth, scoring a pair of runs on two hits and a Bulldog miscue.
The Bulldogs' (31-25) best chance to score came in the fourth when they put runners at the corners with two outs. Corey Collins led off with a single and then Chaney Rogers reached on an infield single, and on the play a Rebel throwing error moved both runners into scoring position. However, Drew McDaniel came back to retire Gonzalez to end the threat. The Rebels improved to 40-18 as McDaniel ran his record to 5-1, going 6.2 innings and registering 11 strikeouts. Sullivan got the loss to drop to 1-2.
Up next, Georgia will tune in Monday, May 31 at noon on ESPN2 when the NCAA field of 64 including the tournament bracket and regional pairings are announced. The Bulldogs are aiming to make their third straight NCAA Regional appearance, which would be a first for the program.
