Mississippi State takes Game 1, Ole Miss evens series with Arizona

Logan Tanner hit a solo home run in the bottom of the seventh and No. 7 seed Mississippi State rallied from a four-run deficit to beat No. 10 seed Notre Dame 9-8 in Game 1 of the Starkville Super Regional on Saturday.

The George County product gave the Bulldogs (44-15) a 9-8 lead and Landon Sims struck out three in two perfect innings for his 10th save of the season. Preston Johnson (3-0) got the win after a giving up one run in 2 2/3 innings.

Mississippi State is a win away from its 12th trip to the College World Series and can clinch the best-of-three series on Sunday.

Tanner Kohlhepp (7-2) got the loss, giving up four runs, three earned, in four innings for the Fighting Irish (33-12)

Rowdey Jordan went 3-for-5 with a home run, a double and two RBIs for the Bulldogs. Tanner Allen hit a solo home run in the first.

Zack Prajzner had a three-run home run in the fifth inning that gave Notre Dame a 7-3 lead.

Ole Miss wins Game 2 over Arizona

Jacob Gonzalez hit a lead-off home run in the bottom of the first inning to open the scoring and added a two-run double in the Ole Miss baseball team’s six-run second and the Rebels beat Arizona 12-3 on Saturday night to avoid elimination from the best-of-3 Oxford Super Regional.

Ole Miss (45-21), which dropped a 9-3 decision to Arizona in the series opener, forced a Game 3 on Sunday.

Gonzales, a true freshman, went 3 for 4 with a walk, three RBIs and three runs and Peyton Chatagnier hit a two-run homer to make it 7-0 in the second inning. Doug Nikhazy (12-2) gave up two runs on six hits and three walks with 10 strikeouts over 5 1/3 innings and his 12 wins are a single-season program record. The junior has 142 strikeouts this season, the second-highest total in Ole Miss history. Lance Lynn struck out 146 batters for the Rebels in 2007.

Donta Williams went 2 for 4 with a solo shot in the top of the seventh inning for Arizona (44-16). Bullard and Holgate hit back-to-back RBI singles in the fourth.

Hayden Dunhurst went 3 for 4 with two RBIs for Ole Miss.

This story was originally published June 13, 2021 at 10:09 AM.