The Ole Miss starting pitchers struggled, but the No. 10-ranked Rebels settled in to defeat Tennessee-Martin 12-6 at Swayze Field Tuesday night.
Sophomore Jordan Fowler lasted just 12/3 innings and gave up five runs, two earned, on three hits, three walks and an error.
The Skyhawks (3-4) stunned the Rebels with four runs in the top of the first, the big hit a three-run home run to deep left by Blake Davis.
Ole Miss tied the game in the home half of the first with home runs by Tyler Keenan and Cole Zabowski.
Fowler gave up another run in the second before being lifted for Connor Green.
The Rebels (5-2) took control with five runs on six hits in the third.
Greenwood native Thomas Dillard homered, his fifth of the year. Ryan Olenek and Chase Cockrell had doubles in the inning, and Zabowski had an RBI hit.
Dillard is now hitting a team-high .481 with a team-leading five homers. He has 16 RBIs already this season.
Green and four other relief pitchers allowed just one run over the final 71/3 innings.
Among those relievers was Olenek, who faced the minimum in the ninth and hit 92 miles an hour with his fastball.
Ole Miss is at home this weekend against Long Beach State (0-7).
nMSU victorious: Two days after finishing off a hard-fought series win over Southern Miss, No. 15 Mississippi State played another in-state foe at Dudy Noble Field on Tuesday.
The Bulldogs had no problems with the Tigers of Jackson in a 17-4 victory, which moves Mississippi State to 7-1 on the season ahead of Wednesday’s 5:30 p.m. game against Southeastern Louisiana.
Eric Cerantola, a 6-foot-5 freshman from Oakville, Ontario, made his first career start. His first pitch was a 96- miles-per-hour fastball. He went three innings and only allowed two hits, one of which was an infield hit that could have easily been ruled an error. He also had two strikeouts to zero walks. He only needed 39 pitches to get through his start. Twenty-six of those pitches were strikes.
