OXFORD — Ole Miss junior Xavier Rivas pitched six strong innings, and junior third baseman Ethan Lege drove in four runs as the No. 4 Rebels finished off their three-game sweep of Purdue with a 6-1 victory Sunday afternoon at Swayze Field.
With the win, No. 4 Ole Miss (14-2) finishes its regular season with an 8-1 record against Big Ten opposition.
The Rebels play at Jacksonville State Tuesday before starting their first SEC weekend series at Vanderbilt Thursday.
Lege — who entered the game with four RBIs — doubled his season total Sunday.
“(He’s) a guy that, you guys know, heard and watched throughout the fall and early spring, how well he’s played here. Unfortunately, we’ve swung it really well, but he’s one of the guys that hasn’t. He’s gotten off to kind of a slower start,” head coach Mike Bianco said. “But I think he’s going to be a really big piece of the offense, and you can see today why. Just some really good at-bats and four RBIs, and certainly we needed them today.”
Rivas outdueled reigning Big Ten Pitcher of the Week Kyle Iwinski, who walked five batters in five innings of work. Rivas’ six innings are tied for the most by an Ole Miss starter this season, matching junior Jack Dougherty’s March 3 outing against Maryland. Rivas finished with six strikeouts and one walk, making 98 pitches.
“Fastball had some life, slider was real good, I was happy with that. And threw some changeups too, which I was happy with. I want to start incorporating that,” Rivas said.
Purdue (8-7) took an early lead in the second inning on a popup to Rivas that he was unable to field, scoring the runner from second with two outs. Lege tied the game in the bottom of the inning with a single to right. Junior catcher Calvin Harris gave Ole Miss the lead with an RBI single in the bottom of the third.
Purdue threatened in the top of the fifth, getting runners to second and third with one out. Rivas worked his way out of the jam with no damage done. Lege knocked in his second run with a sacrifice fly in the sixth.
The Boilermakers again made things interesting in the seventh and eighth, loading the bases the twice. Ole Miss got out of both jams, with freshmen J.T. Quinn and Sam Tookoian getting the Rebels out of their respective innings.
Ole Miss scored three runs in the eighth, two coming on a two-out, two-run single from Lege.
“I started slowing things down, more relaxed, and I’m able to see the ball better, and I’ve (hit) the ball harder,” Lege said. “Really happy. It’s about time.”
The Rebels’ series sweep against Purdue had a bit of everything — a blowout, a walk-off and a game where the pitching staff held things in check until the offense came through. As non-conference weekends come to a close, those are things Bianco is happy to see.
“This is why you do this, this non-conference series, is to be able to be put in different situations and to be able to handle it,” Bianco said. “I thought we did offensively and on the mound, we had to do some different things, and I thought we pitched well out of the bullpen the last couple of weeks, and that’s good.”
Ole Miss’ game at Jacksonville State on Tuesday starts at 6 p.m.
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