More Maddox-like: Riley settles in for career outing, Ole Miss baseball wins third straight
Riley Maddox is a sinkerballer. So, when he’s off and missing, it’s usually obvious (read: up in the zone) and loud. Very, very loud.
Take the first inning of Ole Miss’ 5-3 win over Memphis on Wednesday, for example.
The Tigers tagged Maddox for two runs on three singles and a walk. The junior right-hander was making his fourth appearance, and third start, of the season.
“Grabbed him after the first,” Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco said afterwards. “Some of that was just bad fortune … and some of it was his own demise. I thought he was just too adrenalized and pumped up. When he’s throwing a lot of high fastballs, that’s not good.
“His misses were up and belt high.”
Win: @riley_maddox1 pic.twitter.com/7HRLot3P6q
— Ole Miss Baseball (@OleMissBSB) March 7, 2024
Maddox settled in with a 1-2-3 second inning.
He recorded two of his six strikeouts and ultimately worked five-complete innings. Memphis never scored, or walked, again. The Tigers managed just three more hits.
“It was a little shaky,” in the first, Maddox (1-1) said. “There was some jam-shot singles and some singles up the middle. Coach ‘B’ always tells me, ‘Just stay in there. You’ve got to stay in the fight. Deal with it. Handle it.’
“After he told me that, the next four innings kind of worked out. Focused on making a few more pitches here and there and the defense played great. That’s all you can really ask for.”
The Ole Miss offense, meanwhile, came alive.
Team captain Reagan Burford hit his first home run of the season — a solo shot in the bottom of the second to get the Rebels on the board.
Ole Miss exploded for three runs in the third. Ethan Groff and Ethan Lege tallied their first round-trippers of 2024, too. Groff’s led off the inning. Lege’s was a two-run blast.
“That’s what I was looking for,” Lege said of the middle-in fastball he parked in the seats. “Hammered it.”
Ole Miss has won three games in a row to improve to 9-5 on the year. Memphis fell to 7-7. The Rebels had nine hits. The Tigers had seven.
“I’m just willing to do my job to get the win,” Lege said. “I feel like I’ve been doing that well. Hopefully I stay consistent. So much confidence in all the guys (offensively) — one through nine. Everybody can hit it out of the yard at any time. Really excited about it.”
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The score held at 4-2 until the bottom of the sixth inning.
Freshman catcher Campbell Smithwick got things started with a double. Groff walked, and with two outs, FAU transfer and hot-hitting Rebel slugger Jackson Ross doubled in Smithwick.
Brayden Jones was first out of the bullpen for the Rebels and handled the sixth and seventh. He didn’t surrender a hit and struck out four of the six batters he faced.
Memphis added a run in the eighth. However, freshmen left-hander Austin Simmons worked his way out of trouble (two walks, two strikeouts), while Conner Spencer handled the ninth for his second save.
Simmons also doubles as a quarterback for Ole Miss football. Lane Kiffin’s Rebels opened spring practices Thursday morning. Simmons participated.
The Rebels next host Morehead State for a three-game series this weekend. First pitch of Game 1 on Friday is set for 6:30 p.m. CT.
