By Staff
From combined reports
May 31, 2003
HOUSTON Cody Clark's RBI triple and Logan Sorensen's RBI double highlighted a three-run sixth-inning rally that led Wichita State to a 4-2 victory over Ole Miss in the first round of the NCAA Regional College Baseball Tournament on Friday night.
The Rebels (34-26) will next face McNeese State (31-29) in an elimination game today at 11 a.m., while the Shockers (48-25) will face Rice (49-10) in a semifinal at 3 p.m. The winner of Saturday morning's elimination game will play the loser of the Wichita State-Rice game in a second elimination game Saturday evening at 7.
The Owls knocked off the Cowboys 3-2 in 10 innings in Friday's opening game.
Sorensen's one-out double to score Nick Blasi, who drew a lead-off walk, put the Shockers up 2-1. After T.J. Beam struck out Drew Moffitt for the second out of the inning, Bryan Erstad singled home Sorensen and Clark followed with a triple off the left field to wall to score Erstad and make it 4-1.
Freshman right-hander Mike Pelfrey (10-2) struck out nine over seven innings to earn the win. He scattered nine hits and walked none to lead the game with a 4-2 lead.
Junior left-hander Tommy Hottovy and senior right-hander Mike Dennison then followed with a scoreless inning of relief each to close out the game. Dennison was credited with his 14th save of the year.
T.J. Beam (8-2) went the distance in suffering the loss. He was touched for four runs on six hits and walked one, while tying a career-high with eight strikeouts.
Sophomore outfielder Seth Smith, the 2002 SEC Freshman of the Year, hit his fifth home run of the season with a lead-off shot to right in the fourth to give the Rebels a 1-0 lead. The Shockers tied the game in the top of the fifth on a two-out home run by Nick McCoola, his second of the season.
After giving up the big three-run inning, Ole Miss (34-26) cut its deficit to 4-2 in the bottom of the sixth on a single by Chad Sterbens and an RBI double by Brian Pettway.
Drew Rogers went 3-for-3 at the plate and Chad Sterbens was 2-for-4 for the Rebels as Ole Miss out-hit Wichita State 9-6.