The No. 19 Texas A&M Aggies dropped the rubber match of their series at Ole Miss Sunday, falling to the Rebels, 6-3, at Swayze Field.
Ole Miss (31-21, 13-14 SEC) drew first blood in the bottom of the first inning. With one out, Will Golsan singled to rightfield and Cody Bortles and Nick Fortes were issued bases on balls to load the bags. Ryan Olenik plated Golsan with a sacrifice fly and chicanery on the bases allowed Bortles to score before Fortes was retired on run down between first and second to end the frame.
Texas A&M (35-17, 15-12 SEC) cut a run off the lead in the top of the third. Blake Kopetsky started the inning by driving a single to rightfield and Austin Homan moved him to second with a sacrifice bunt. George Janca followed with a five-pitch walk and Nick Choruby flared a single to centerfield to fill the bags with Ags. Logan Foster drove a single to rightfield to knock in Kopetsky, but that was all the Maroon and White could manage as a pair of strikeouts ended the rally.
The Rebels stretched the lead back to two runs in the bottom of the fourth. Olenik started the inning with a single up the middle and stole second base. With one out, Kyle Watson grounded to shortstop Homan who tried to cut down Olenik at third, but the slide came in under the tag to put runners on the corners. Cooper Johnson squeezed Olenik home with a bunt, staking Ole Miss to a 3-1 advantage.
Ole Miss added three insurance runs in the eighth with a solo home run by Tate Blackman and a three-run home run by Bortles to inflate the cushion to 6-1.
Jorge Gutierrez led off the ninth with a solo home run, his fourth of the season. With two outs, Janca reached on a throwing error by shortstop Grae Kessinger and took second base on catcher’s indifference. Choruby followed with an RBI single to cut the lead to 6-3.
Choruby led the Aggies at the plate, going 3-for-5 with one RBI.
Will Golsan and Ryan Olenek each had three hits for Ole Miss. Golsan batted 3-for-4 with two runs, one walk and one double. Olenek batted 3-for-4 with one run and one RBI.
After being dominant in his last five starts, Stephen Kolek (3-3) battled through traffic for much of the game. He allowed three runs, on five hits and five walks while striking out three over 4.2 innings.
Ole Miss starter David Parkinson (6-3) yielded one run on five hits and three walks while striking out five over 6.0 innings to earn the win. Dallas Woolfolk allowed two runs in his two innings of work to pick up his 12th save of the season.
The Aggies return to action Tuesday as the Maroon and White host the Sam Houston State Bearkats in a 6:32 pm contest on Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park.
