Ole Miss moving up to Super Regional

Published 12:14 am Tuesday, June 2, 2009

OXFORD (AP) — Drew Pomeranz took a no-hitter into the seventh inning and tied a school record with 16 strikeouts to lead Mississippi past Western Kentucky 4-1 on Monday night and to advance to an NCAA Super Regional in the NCAA tournament.

Ole Miss will now host Virginia in the Super Regional with a best-of-three series beginning at 1 p.m. on Friday in Oxford. The game will be televised by ESPN2. It marks the fourth time in the last five years the Rebels have advanced to the Super Regionals as Ole Miss also advanced in 2005, 2006 and 2007.

Pomeranz (8-4) turned in his most dominant performance of the season on three days rest as the southpaw held a no-hitter heading into the seventh inning and limited the Hilltoppers to one unearned run on two hits. He walked one batter and struck out 16. The 16 strikeouts tied the single-game record set by Robert Earl Siedell in 1962 and was matched by Kenny Carlyle in 1992 and Jamey Price in 1995.

Email newsletter signup

Western Kentucky starter Matt Ridings worked an impressive 7.0 innings and held the Rebels to one run on seven hits with four strikeouts and took no decision as he left the game with the score tied at one. Reliever Chad Adcock (1-3) took the loss as he allowed three runs on two hits with a walk. The loss came just one night after Adcock picked up the win over Ole Miss in relief to force Monday night’s game.

The Rebels got on the board in the sixth inning when Matt Smith scored from first on a double to the wall in right center from Kyle Henson. Smith opened the inning with a single then legged out the double sliding in ahead of the play at the plate to score the first run of the game.