OXFORD, MISS. – Ryan Waldschmidt took a fastball over the left field wall in the seventh inning to highlight Charleston Southern's opening day loss to 5^th-ranked Ole Miss. The Bucs fell 9-3 Friday night at Swayze Field.
 
Charleston Southern (0-1) will look to find the win column in the series' second tilt tomorrow evening back at Swayze Field as first pitch is set for 2:30 p.m.
 
Ole Miss (1-0) got things going early, scoring in the first four frames of the contest. Situational hitting was the name of the game early for the Rebels, as Jacob Gonzalez's ground ball on the infield brought across the first run in the first.
 
The Rebels would add three more in the second, with a sacrifice fly bringing across the first run before a string of hits by Peyton Chatagnier and Justin Bench gave Ole Miss the 4-0 advantage. The third frame saw much of the same, as Reagan Burford would collect an RBI via a sacrifice fly after a balk scored Tim Elko.
 
Charleston Southern would answer back in the fourth, as Hayden Harris picked up a two-out double to score a pair of Buccaneer runs. Austen Izzio and Peyton Mills would come around to score on the CSU Captain's timely hit.
 
Ole Miss added two more in the fourth as Gonzalez and TJ McCants recorded RBI-singles before rounding out the scoring in the home-half of the sixth with an Elko home run to the opposite field.
 
Waldschmidt gave the Bucs their third and final run with a one-out solo shot to left field, marking the first collegiate home run for the freshman infielder.
 
Ole Miss starter Derek Diamond (1-0) gets the win after going the minimum five innings, surrendering just two runs, both earned, on two hits while striking out eight CSU hitters.
 
Bryce Brock (0-1) takes the loss for Charleston Southern, as the southpaw was charged with four earned across two hits and two walks. Matthew Taylor, Corey Braun, Jack Gilmore and Hector Candelas all looked strong out of the bullpen for Pitching Coach Anthony Izzio , as the foursome combined for five complete innings of work while allowing just one earned on a pair of hits.

In The Box
"Ole Miss was the better team today. The negatives are evident. We own and will not hide from our play. That's on us," shared Head Coach Marc MacMillan. "Saturday, we get to be better in those areas, and I have the utmost confidence we will."