Ole Miss was a quick exit from this year’s SEC Tournament, falling to Missouri 10-8 on Tuesday in what turned into a historic showdown.
Missouri catcher Mateo Serna was the star of the show for multiple reasons. The junior not only had three hits and two RBI, but he was also the only player to effectively have calls overturned as part of the advanced ball-strike challenge system. The game marked the first time ABS has been used on the college level.
Serna challenged eight calls and was successful seven times, whereas Ole Miss had one failed challenge early in the contest. ABS proved to be a positive for the underdogs, resulting in a consequential strikeout at a pivotal point in the game, along with boosting the confidence of a catcher who proved to be savvy in noticing when the home plate umpire had a miscue.
The No. 17 Rebels (36-20) appeared in the tournament as the 9-seed, while the Tigers (23-30) – who had the worst conference record going into the tournament – appeared as the 16-seed. Records aside, the SEC’s mantra, “It just means more,” applied to Missouri in Hoover, as Kerrick Jackson’s club recorded five more hits than its foe and went without committing a fielding error to keep its season alive.
Ole Miss struck first in the game, with Dom Decker hitting a leadoff home run, followed by an Austin Fawley solo shot in the bottom of the second. Missouri stormed back with a two-run shot in the top of the third.
The pendulum completely swung in the Tigers’ favor, with a Kaden Peer grand slam highlighting a five-run top of the fifth, putting Missouri up 7-2. The Rebels rebutted with a four-run bottom of the fifth, with a Hayden Federico single notably sending a pair of runners to home plate.
The star of the game, Serna, stole all momentum Ole Miss had garnered by successfully challenging a called ball while Fawley was at the plate with a 2-2 count and runners on second and third. The successful challenge came as the Rebels had two outs, and ended the inning with Fawley unable to swing his way to reclaiming the lead.
Missouri expanded its slim lead to two runs with a Jase Woita solo shot in the top of the sixth. Looking to come back, Ole Miss knotted things up, courtesy of a two-run long ball by Federico in the bottom of the seventh. The tie was promptly broken by the Tigers in the top of the eighth, as a Tristan Bissetta fielding error allowed a Missouri runner to score on a single.
A subsequent single, hit by none other than Serna, put the Tigers up 10-8. The Rebels would not threaten the rest of the way, with all three batters striking out in the bottom of the eighth and a Fawley groundout officially ending things in the bottom of the ninth.
Hitting was not the primary problem for the Rebels, who put nine balls in play. Federico led that effort with two hits and four RBI, while Decker had two hits and an RBI. Half of their hits were home runs. The one downside of the offensive outing was that Ole Miss batters struck out a collective 14 times.
Nonetheless, it was what happened on the mound that really put Mike Bianco’s club in a bind. Grenada native Landon Waters had an uncharacteristically rough outing. He surrendered the grand slam and the sixth-inning solo shot. Former Missouri left-handed hurler Wil Libbert got the start for Ole Miss and gave up two runs on four hits in four innings while fanning three batters.
Landon Koenig (3-1) was hit with the loss for the Rebels, as he was on the mound when the team surrendered the progress Federico had made with the seventh-inning home run. Missouri’s Eli Skidmore (3-0) was credited with the win after fanning five batters in 2.2 scoreless innings. Tiger starter Josh McDevitt notably had eight strikeouts in 5.2 innings.
Next up
Ole Miss will now awaits its standing in the upcoming NCAA Tournament, where the team is a lock to be among the 64 clubs vying for a national title. As things stand, the Rebels are expected to be a 2-seed in another team’s regional.
Missouri, the first 16-seed to ever advance in the SEC Tournament will face 8-seed Mississippi State on Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. CT. The contest will air on the SEC Network and participating SuperTalk Mississippi stations.
