Rebels roll in Game 1

Fill-in starter perfect for five

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.

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

Freshman Mason Nichols limited the damage after Dougherty left with the basesloaded and no outs in the sixth inning, and the Rebels broke open the gamein 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 Mississippi and finished 4 for 5 after entering the game 3 for 16 with seven strikeouts in the CWS.

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

With Mississippi 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 1-23 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.

Jackson Nicklaus broke it up with a single to center leading off the sixth and Sebastian Orduno followed with a base hit. Kendall Pettis bunted for a single, and Nicklaus scored on third baseman Garrett Wood’s wild throw to first. That ended Dougherty’s streak of 17 straight shutout innings.

Dougherty threw 72 pitches, 50 for strikes, and struckout six.