OXFORD – Ole Miss held the lead through five on Friday night against Mississippi State but couldn't make it stick, dropping game two of the series 10-7 as the Bulldogs evened things up.
The Bulldogs grabbed the lead in the first inning, with Luke Hancock putting a solo home run into the right field seats.
Ole Miss couldn't have gotten off to a better start in its half, with Justin Bench, Jacob Gonzalez and Tim Elko taking three of the first four pitches of the game over the fence for back-to-back-to-back home runs. It was the second time the Rebels have hit homers in three-consecutive at-bats, also accomplishing the feat at UCF.
Peyton Chatagnier made it a three-run lead in the second, sending a solo shot of his own over the left field wall to make it 4-1 in favor of the Rebels.
After the Rebels missed a chance to extend its lead with the bases loaded in the fourth, the Bulldogs made them pay, scoring two runs in the sixth to draw within a run before taking the lead with a pair of two-run homers by Hunter Hines and Kellum Clark. Suddenly, it was 7-4 Mississippi State.
The Bulldogs added three runs in the eighth to break the game open, but Ole Miss responded with three of its own in the bottom half on a Gonzalez RBI single and a two-run double to the left-center gap from Kemp Alderman, bringing the deficit back down to three runs.
The Rebels and Bulldogs will play for the series Saturday afternoon on ESPN2.
