Jabe Boroff’s tiebreaking two-run double highlighted a four-run seventh inning, and Troy kept its Cinderella title hopes alive by rallying to eliminate Ole Miss 12-8 in the Men’s College World Series on Sunday afternoon in Omaha, Neb.
One of the “Last Four In” to make regional play, the Trojans, a 31-loss squad, trailed 6-2 but saw their offense plate 10 runs from the fifth through eighth innings to advance to face the loser of North Carolina-West Virginia in Tuesday afternoon’s elimination matchup.
Blake Cavill added an insurance marker with his 14th home run leading off the eighth, and Troy tallied two more on a dropped pop fly with two outs to record their first program win in the MCWS.
Reaching base all five plate appearances in a 3-for-3 outing, Troy’s Sean Darnell provided a two-run blast, four RBIs and three runs. Jimmy Janicki homered, while Drew Nelson scored three times.
Winning pitcher Noah Thigpen yielded two runs on six hits in five-plus innings of relief.
The Rebels’ eighth- and ninth-place hitters Brayden Randle and Collin Reuter each slugged two-run homers and had two hits. Hayden Federico was 3-for-4 with an RBI double and walk. Will Furniss hit a solo home run.
Reliever JP Robertson took the loss by surrendering two runs on two hits in 1 2/3 innings.
In the MCWS’s first elimination game, Judd Utermark’s first-inning single to left scored Dom Decker, who reached on a two-base fielding error by first baseman Cavill. Federico later doubled in Tristan Bissetta for the second unearned run.
The Trojans tied it in the second when lefty-swinging Darnell launched a 416-foot homer to right off southpaw starter Hunter Elliott, but Randle went deep to right in the home half to regain the two-run lead.
Reuter then went opposite field for a two-run shot and a 6-2 lead for the Southeastern Conference school in the fourth.
The Sun Belt team scored three times in the fifth on a balk and Darnell’s two-run single to cut it to 6-5.
Janicki made the comeback complete with a solo homer leading off the seventh, and Boroff’s double to left scored two as the Trojans earned their first lead. Houston Markham’s single put it at 9-6.
Austin Fawley’s single brought Ole Miss within 9-7 through seven, and Furniss homered in the eighth.
–Field Level Media
