Ole Miss Baseball Takes Down No. 1 Florida

OXFORD, Miss. (WCBI Sports) – Shut-down pitching performances were the key to Ole Miss’ 4-1 win over top-ranked Florida Friday.

The Rebels (12-9, 2-2 SEC) took game one of the SEC series with help from junior left-hander Christian Trent and senior right-hander Scott Weathersby, who combined to allow one run on three hits.

“This is the best we have played,” head coach Mike Bianco said. “We pitched really well and we defended great. We looked more like ourselves tonight.”

The win over Florida (19-4, 2-2 SEC) was the Rebels’ second in the past three games against a team ranked No. 1 in the nation.

Trent got the win, throwing 6.1 innings and retiring the first eight batters he faced. He improves to 4-1 on the season and 13-1 for his career.

“He was outstanding,” Bianco said of his Friday night starter. “It was by far his best outing of the year. When he got into that jam in the fifth, he’s able to make some pitches and get out of it.”

Sophomore outfielder J.B. Woodman and senior catcher Austin Knight drove in two runs each for the Rebels, while freshman third baseman and former New Hope Trojan Will Golsan tallied his third-straight multi-hit game, going 2-for-4 at the plate.

Ole Miss led 2-0 in the first after a two-run home run by Woodman, his third of the season.

“It was huge to get on top of a team that’s good and get on top of them early,” Trent said. “The whole game changes once you put it on them early and it got the crowd into it.”

The Rebels stretched their lead out in the sixth. Knight delivered a two-RBI single through the drawn-in infield. The next inning, Weathersby came in and sat down each of the eight batters he faced to earn his second save of the season.

“When you have two-plus innings left with a three-run lead, not only do you want a guy who’s going to fill it up and throw a lot of strikes, but you want a guy who’s going to make it difficult, and he does that,” said Bianco of Weathersby.

Ole Miss and Florida play game two of the weekend series Saturday, starting at 1:30 p.m. CT. The series finale will be Sunday at 1:30 p.m. at Swayze Field.