In baseball, you truly never know where a big hit or game will change the expected outcome between teams going in different directions like Ole Miss and No. 21 Florida.
Brayden Randle smacked his second home run of the year, and Cannon Goldin went 2/2 with an RBI to help power Ole Miss’ offense past the Gators, 6-4, on Thursday. The Rebels (21-10, 4-6 SEC) went down 1-0 in the first inning before a break out three run third put them in the lead for good cooling off a red hot Florida (23-8, 6-4 SEC) team
who had three straight conference wins.
This win really makes the weekend interesting for Ole Miss now with ace Hunter Elliott pitching tonight and Cade Townsend to follow on Saturday. On paper, Taylor Rabe maybe wasn’t expected to do as well as he did going 4.2 IP with 3 ER and 6 strikeouts to get Ole Miss off to a solid start.
The same could absolutely be said for Randle who has been in a massive hitting slump but found a way to send one out of the park. Goldin meanwhile is more of an unknown quantity coming into the game with only 22 at bats on the season but had himself a great day going perfect at the plate.
Tristan Bissetta drew three walks and went 1/2 on the day with two stolen bases though the Rebels did run into some woes on the base paths getting caught stealing three times. Walker Hooks slammed the door shut on the Gators with a two inning save that included a clutch pick off at first base that had the Florida announcers filling their diapers with balk claims.
Ole Miss and No. 21 Florida will play the second game of this series with first pitch set for 5:30 p.m. CT on Friday. The game will be streamed live again on SEC Network+.
