Rebels waste opportunity, Hogs make them pay

FAYETTEVILLE -- Down only 5-3, the Ole Miss Rebels couldn't fathom they lost the game to Arkansas by loading the bases on Razorback reliever Zach Jackson with two walks and a bunt single to start the seventh inning.

The Rebels salivated with the heart of their order, J.B. Woodman, Sikes Orvis and Tate Blackman, at the bat.

But like Mudville's Mighty Casey, all struck out. Jackson caught Woodman and Orvis looking and Blackman swinging, and the Rebels dissolved into a 10-3 defeat Thursday night starting a three-game Southeastern Conference West series at Baum Stadium that was scheduled to continue Friday night and conclude and 2 p.m. today.

"Against their big closer, Jackson, we had the bases loaded against the middle of the lineup," Ole Miss coach Mike Bianco said. "And credit him, three punch-outs in a row. That was a big blow when you have an opportunity, especially with your main guys in the lineup. More disappointing probably than that is you could tell that just knocked the wind out of us."

And inflated the Hogs, forgetting their fatigue of busing back from Memphis through the Wednesday-into-Thursday wee-hour storms after beating Memphis in a nonconference game following Tuesday night's loss to Memphis in North Little Rock.

"Very rarely can you wiggle out of a jam like that with that type of talent," Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn said. "But when you have the kind of stuff that Jackson has, you can. It's rare. I'd rather he not gotten into that jam, but it was good to see him get out of it. Even if we had gotten out of it with a tie game, we probably would have felt good about it with all that was going on that inning."

Despite issuing a combined eight walks, winning starter Dominic Taccolini and Jackson extricated themselves from enough jams to enjoy the support of 15 Arkansas hits and the largesse of four Ole Miss errors to advance its overall and SEC records to 13-12 and 2-5 while Ole Miss falls to 13-13, 3-4.

"We walked eight and still won the game," Van Horn said. "That's very rare. We were just fortunate that those guys have good stuff and they came through and made some pitches when they needed to."

Joe Serrano, 3-for-5; Andrew Benintendi, 2-for-5 and an RBI; Cullen Gassaway, single, double and sacrifice fly and two RBIs; Tyler Spoon, double, sac fly and three RBI; and Brett McAfee, 3-for-4, led Arkansas' attack.

Sacrifice flies enabled Arkansas to take a 1-0 lead in the first and tie it 2-2 in the third off losing Ole Miss southpaw starter Christian Trent.

Bases-loading singles by Serrano, Benintendi and Gassaway preceded Spoon's 1-out sacrifice fly to right in the first.

Bobby Wernes' leadoff double and advance on Benintendi's infield out preceded Gassaway's sac fly to right in the third.

Taccolini mowed down Rebels the first two innings, striking out four and facing just seven but walking in the second -- a harbinger for the third.

In a 36-pitch inning, Taccolini walked four and was tagged for one hit but only yielded two runs. The leadoff walk was erased trying to steal second before Errol Robinson singled home the second walk. The third who walked scored on Steve Orvis' infield out at first.

Serrano, leadoff single; Benintendi, one-out single scoring Serrano from second; Gassaway, doubling home Benintendi; and Spoon, doubling home Clark Eagan pinch-running for Gassaway, were the actors of Arkansas' three-run fifth off Trent.

Taccolini's sixth walk, with two out and one on via an infield single in the sixth, prompted Van Horn to summon reliever Zach Jackson. Austin Knight dumped a run-scoring single into center but Jackson struck out Joe Wainhouse.

Ole Miss 002 001 000 -- 3 5 4

Arkansas 101 030 32X -- 10 15 0

Trent, Waguespack (6), Robison (8) and Knight Taccolini, Jackson (6), Phillips (9) and Pennell. W-Taccolini, 5-2. L-Trent, 4-2. 2B-Arkansas, Wernes (3), Gassaway (2), Spoon (9), McAfee (1). 3B-Arkansas, Eagan (2). SF-Arkansas, Gassaway (1), Spoon 2 (5). SB-Ole Miss, Robinson (3), Dishon (11). Arkansas, Wernes (1), Benintendi (10), McAfee (2).

Sports on 03/28/2015

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