‘Dream come true’ for Gunnar Dennis helps Ole Miss baseball finally get off the schneid
Ole Miss baseball is back?
Well, not quite, but at least the Rebels have finally won again.
Ole Miss, which opened the year with back-to-back wins in its season-opening series at Hawaii, snapped a four-game losing skid with a 12-2, seven-inning, run-rule win over High Point on Saturday.
FAU transfer Jackson Ross had a two-run home run and four RBI to lead the Rebels (3-4). Sophomore Will Furniss, finally inserted into the lineup, homered and scored three runs. Ole Miss homered four times in all and walked 12 times.
“With the transfers, a lot of us came here, new faces. We’re trying to get settled in,” Ross said. He was a member of the Rebels’ Top 10 transfer class in the off-season.
“Tonight you saw some guys really settle down and just do their thing.”
RELATED: On paper Ole Miss has ‘a ton of talent’ but it is off to its worst start in 34 years
Ole Miss jumped on the Panthers (2-5) with four runs early.
High Point, meanwhile, was only able to muster two runs (one earned) off Rebel starting pitcher Gunnar Dennis.
Dennis is a left-handed junior from Meridian Community College. He went 4.2 innings and surrendered six hits with eight strikeouts and a pair of walks.
“Obviously nerves were there,” Dennis said. “But my first-ever outing here at Swayze was completely a dream come true and awesome.
“The slider was really working the first few innings. I thought I had really good command on it. (Freshman catcher) Campbell (Smithwick) and (Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco) called a great game tonight.”
Showers in Right
— Ole Miss Baseball (@OleMissBSB) February 25, 2024
🚿 @WillFurniss pic.twitter.com/Jv5sSltffO
Ole Miss veteran reliever Josh Mallitz covered 2.1 innings and struck out four.
He walked one and gave up a hit. Mallitz is in his return season from Tommy John surgery, which cost him all of the 2023 campaign.
Ole Miss will go for a series win Sunday at 1:30 p.m. CT.
“Offensively, obviously a good night,” Bianco said. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen 12 runs without a single. But a ton of walks by our guys. It’s one of the things (Ole Miss hitting coach) Mike Clement’s worked so hard on, is getting our guys to get the ball into the strike zone. Because not only were we not good offensively last year — low batting average, we didn’t produce — but one of the reasons is we chased so much out oft he zone.
“For them to get a ton of walks tonight, kind of set the table for the extra-base hits.”
The included highlights were provided by Ole Miss Athletics.
