Ole Miss baseball routs Jacksonville State 16-2 in NCAA Tournament opener, advances to winners' bracket

OXFORD — The Ole Miss baseball team routed its way to the winners' bracket.

Behind a dominant starting pitching performance and a never-quitting offensive showing that included 10 two-out hits and batting 13-for-18 with runners on base, No. 12 Ole Miss defeated Jacksonville State 16-2 on Friday night. With the win, Ole Miss (38-25) advances into the winners' bracket of the Oxford Regional to face Clemson on Saturday, needing two more wins to advance to Super Regionals for the first time since 2014.

"We played really, really well tonight," Ole Miss coach Mike Bianco said. "I really thinks that's a good team in the other dugout and a good offensive team, but Will was terrific tonight. Maybe as good as he's been all year with his command, with all three pitches. And of course offensively."

Junior right-handed starting pitcher Will Ethridge was excellent for Ole Miss Friday night, allowing two runs on three hits across seven innings of work. After allowing a double to the first batter of the game, Ethridge retired the next 20 batters he faced, striking out three batters and inducing nine groundouts over the stretch. 

"About the sixth inning, I was like 'Hey, I haven't given up a hit,'" Ethridge said after the game. "Then I was like 'If I hadn't given up that hit, I'd be throwing a perfect game right now.' But I was just thinking about filling up the strike zone, just keep putting up zeroes for us."

Friday marked the fifth time in Ethridge's last six starts that the junior completed at least seven innings. Over this stretch, including one relief appearance, Ethridge has logged an ERA of 3.30.

Jacksonville State right-handed pitcher Garrett Farmer came into Friday as one of the most productive and dangerous pitchers available in the Oxford Regional. But the Rebels battered the Gamecocks' starter, tagging him for 10 runs, five earned, on eight hits with four walks across 4.2 innings pitched. Counted among those eight hits were two, two-run home runs, one by third baseman Tyler Keenan in the third inning and another by right fielder Anthony Servideo in the fifth inning.

Ole Miss pushed five runners across in the fifth inning, chasing Farmer after six straight runners reached base following a two-out fielding error by Jacksonville State second baseman Devin Brown. After the error, Ole Miss recorded back-to-back-to-back-to-back hits, including the Servideo home run and a two-RBI double from designated hitter Kevin Graham.

"I think a big part of our team and our offense is being able to walk," Keenan said of the Rebels' 15-hit, seven-walk team performance. "We're going to take our bases and we're going to get the pitches that we want to hit. It's big for us to walk and get on base and have the people behind us hit us in."

Of the eight Ole Miss players who reached base via walk or hit-by-pitch on Friday, four eventually came around to score.

The Rebels tacked on five more runs in the bottom of the seventh inning, also all with two outs. Left fielder Thomas Dillard had the biggest hit, ripping a two-run home run into right field, his 11th long ball of the year and his first at Swayze Field since March 20 against Arkansas Pine Bluff.

Coming off its 11-10 loss in the SEC Tournament final, Ole Miss scored double-digit runs in back-to-back games for the first time since the Rebels did so four-straight times in April against Florida and Southern Miss. The Rebels' 15 runs are the most scored by an Ole Miss team in the postseason since 2007. 

"I thought we did a good job against Farmer as far as letting go some of his changeups," Bianco added about the Rebels' offensive showing. "I think he probably threw more changeups than we thought he would. We thought he'd throw more curveballs than changeups to the left-handers. Our guys did a great job of laying off those pitches."

The Rebels will return to action on Saturday at 6 p.m. in the winners' bracket of the Oxford Regional versus third-seeded Clemson. The Tigers defeated Illinois 8-4 on Friday in the first game of the Oxford Regional. Ole Miss is expected to throw freshman left-hander Doug Nikhazy.

Contact Nick Suss at 601-408-2674 or nsuss@gannett.com. Follow @nicksuss on Twitter.