Pitching, power lift Ole Miss over Oklahoma

OMAHA, NEB. » Jack Dougherty carried a perfect game into the sixth inning, Mississippi hit three homers in a row in the eighth and the Rebels beat Oklahoma 10-3 in Game 1 of the College World Series finals Saturday night.

Ole Miss (41-23) can secure its first national title in baseball with a victory Sunday. Oklahoma (45-23) must win to tie the best-ofthree finals and force a deciding game Monday.

Freshman Mason Nichols limited the damage after Dougherty left with the bases loaded and no outs in the sixth inning, and the Rebels broke open the game in the eighth.

TJ McCants, Calvin Harris and Justin Bench hit back-to-back-to-back homers off Chazz Martinez to make it a six-run game. It was the first time a team had hit three home runs in a row at the CWS since LSU did it against Mississippi State in 1998.

Tim Elko also went deep for Ole Miss and finished 4 for 5 after entering the game 3 for 16 with seven strikeouts in the CWS. The Rebels finished with 16 hits off five OU pitchers.

Dougherty (4-3) took the mound with a lead in the first inning after the Rebels capitalized on OU starter Jake Bennett’s two wild pitches and error to get out to a 2-0 lead.

With Ole Miss short on starting pitching because of the newly condensed CWS schedule, coach Mike

Bianco gave the ball to Dougherty. Making his first start since March 26, he became the first pitcher in Charles Schwab Field’s 11-year history to retire 15 batters in a row to start a game. Dougherty never had a 1-2-3 inning in his other three starts this season.

The sophomore righthander struck out five in a row over the third and fourth innings and got a big defensive play from shortstop Jacob Gonzalez to keep the perfect game alive in the fifth.