COLUMBIA, Mo. – No. 24 Ole Miss rallied from an early four-run deficit against University of Missouri baseball Sunday afternoon, using a trio of four-run rallies to wrap up a 14-6 victory and a three-game Southeastern Conference series sweep of the Tigers at Taylor Stadium.
Keyed by Isaac Humphrey’s three-run triple, the Rebels (18-5, 4-2 SEC) scored four times in the top of the fourth to wipe out a 5-1 Mizzou advantage, then seized the lead for good on a Ryan Moerman solo shot to lead off the fifth inning. Humphrey capped a series in which he drove in 13 runs with a 2-for-5, five-RBI performance that included a two-run home run – his fourth round-tripper of the weekend – as part of the Rebels four-run seventh.
Mizzou (8-14, 0-6 SEC) appeared poised to challenge the Rebels early, taking a first-inning lead on Mateo Serna’s sixth home run of the season. Tigers freshman left-hander Brady Kehlenbrink was dominant in his first career start, striking out five of the first seven hitters he faced to open the game with two scoreless frames.
Ole Miss evened the score with one out in the third, however, as Luke Cheng hit his first home run of the season, making it a 1-1 game.
The Tigers responded in the home half, matching their biggest rally of the series by scoring four runs on four hits against Rebels starter Mason Nichols (2-0). Gehrig Goldbeck sparked the threat with an opposite-field, leadoff double, before Kaden Peer brought him home with an RBI-single for a 2-1 lead. Keegan Knutson followed with the second of his three hits on the day, and Jackson Lovich launched a three-run homer to right-center to extend the margin to four runs.
The first of the Rebels’ three four-run rallies started with a Judd Utermark one-out single, beginning a string of four-straight Ole Miss batters reaching base safely. With the bases loaded, Humphrey lined a 1-1 pitch from Kaden Jacobi into right-center field gap, chasing home all three baserunners to pull the Rebels to within one run. Two batters later, Cheng laced a two-out double down the line in left to bring in Humphrey with the tying run.
After Moerman’s ninth home run of the season put Ole Miss on top in the fifth, the visitors extended their cushion with another offensive surge in the seventh. Humphrey’s two-run shot to right-center – his seventh of the year – highlighted the inning, before Luke Hill’s RBI-triple and Mitchell Sanford’s run-scoring grounder capped the rally.
The Rebels put the game on ice with another big inning in the ninth, as Sanford cleared the bases with a three-run double to stretch the advantage to 14-6.
Kehlenbrink finished the contest with a career-best six strikeouts, allowing just one run on one hit in 3.0 innings. At the plate, Lovich turned in his third-straight multi-hit performance, going 3-for-4 with three RBIs. Knutson added three hits to help pace the Tigers’ 10-hit attack.
TIGER NOTEBOOK
- With the loss, Mizzou dropped to 11-19 all-time versus Ole Miss, and 5-6 against the Rebels in Columbia.
- Lovich’s three-hit day marked his ninth multi-hit effort overall this season, his third-straight against Ole Miss and his fourth in his last five games (since March 15).
- Lovich finished the weekend 8-for-14 (.571) with two home runs and nine RBIs.
- Knutson’s three-hit day marked his third multi-hit game as a Tiger and matched his career best (March 15 at LSU).
- Eight Mizzou pitchers combined to fan a season-high 14 batters, having last done so against Florida on April 7, 2024.
- The Tigers and Rebels combined to score 62 runs in the three-game series, following a three-game SEC set in 2023 in which they plated 70 total runs.
- The setback extended Mizzou’s losing streak to seven games, marking its longest since a 10-game skid during the 2021 season (April 24-May 13).
UP NEXT
The Tigers will travel to Sauget, Ill., Tuesday for their annual Braggin’ Rights matchup with Illinois. First pitch from Grizzlies Ballpark is slated for 6 p.m.
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