Ole Miss Completes Sweep Of No. 24 Florida
Head homers and records his 12th save to set a new Ole Miss single-season record.


May 11, 2003


OXFORD, Miss. - Freshman left-hander Stephen Head recorded his 12th save of the year to set a new Ole Miss single-season record and also went 2-for-4 with a solo home run to lead Ole Miss to a 4-2 win and complete a three-game sweep of No. 24 Florida Sunday afternoon, in front of 2,003 at Oxford-University Stadium/Swayze Field.

With the win, the Rebels improved to a season-high 11 games over the .500-mark at 32-21. Ole Miss also moved to 16-11 in the Southeastern Conference and clinched a berth to the SEC Tournament, scheduled for May 21-25 in Hoover, Ala.

The loss was Florida's 10th straight in Oxford dating back to 1997 and marked the third straight series the Gators have been swept by the Rebels at Swayze Field. Ole Miss also swept Florida in Oxford in 1999 and 2001. Sunday's loss also dropped the Gators, 32-18-1 overall and 11-15-1 in the SEC, 1.5 games behind Tennessee for the eighth and final spot to the SEC Tournament, as the Volunteers defeated Arkansas 4-3 in 11 innings at Knoxville.

Head entered the game in relief of starter Mark Holliman in the eighth inning, with Ole Miss leading 3-0, after Jonathan Tucker reached on an error to open the inning. Head would struggle in the eighth, allowing one hit and two walks as the Gators plated two runs to pull within 3-2.

However, he would give Ole Miss an insurance run in the eighth with a two-out solo home run and then worked a scoreless ninth to surpass Justin Huisman's Ole Miss single-season record of 11 saves, set in 2000.

Holliman (4-5) limited Florida to one unearned run on four hits and four walks, while striking out six in seven innings to earn the win.

Florida starter Mike Pete (3-2) suffered the loss. He was charged with two runs on three hits and two walks, while striking out one in 3 1/3 innings.

Charlie Waite went 3-for-4 with an RBI as Ole Miss out-hit Florida 10-6 on the afternoon.

Jeff Corsaletti and Brian Rose had two hits each for the Gators.

Ole Miss took a 2-0 lead in the fourth. Jonathan Swearingen scored on a RBI fielder's choice off the bat of Chad Sterbens, and Sterbens later scored on an RBI single by Charlie Waite.

The Rebels added another run in the seventh on a triple by Matt Tolbert that scored pinch-runner Matt Mossberg.

Ole Miss will conclude its regular season with a three-game series at Auburn, beginning Friday night at 6:30 p.m., at Hitchcock Field at Plainsman Park.

Ole Miss 4, No. 24 Florida 2 (May 11, 2003 at Oxford, Miss.)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Florida 000 000 020 - 2 6 1 (32-18-1, 11-15-1 SEC)
Ole Miss 000 200 11x - 4 10 1 (32-21, 16-11 SEC)
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Pitchers: Florida - Pete; O'Day(4); Goldfarb(5); Falkenbach(5). Ole Miss - M. Holliman;
Stephen Head(8).
Win-M. Holliman(4-5) Save-Stephen Head(12) Loss-Pete(3-2) T-2:26 A-2003
HR UM - Stephen Head (6).
Game notes:
NATIONAL RANKINGS: FLA- #24 SW/ESPN
HR DISTANCES: Head (UM) 361-8th
FLA: 10 straight losses in Oxford.
UM: Head sets UM single-season saves record; 12-3 vs. SEC East in 2003.
M. Holliman faced 1 batter in the 8th.
Game: UM0511

How sweeeet it is [quoting Jackie Gleason from the 60s]

I cheer the Rebels this weekend, great job on the sweep.

And it was such a nice ride home, thinking about how well we played! I'm here to tell y'all, like I haven't already a hundred times , but that kid Stephen Head =FO REAL! Un-friggin'-believable. I could go on and on about this Freshman, but I gotta run for now!! I have never been so impressed with a freshman baseball player as long as I can recall. WOW! And I talked to him for a couple minutes today before the game, super nice, too! Glad to have him in Oxford, just wanna keep him! :D

msudawgs64 Wrote:I cheer the Rebels this weekend, great job on the sweep.

Thanks, 64, and sorry about the Pups. Man, check this out.....towards the end of our game they posted y'alls score and it was like 7-1 MSU in the 7th. We get in the car to go home, turn on the radio and it is the 10th inning and a tie game in Athens. We listened to that game all the way home and it did not end until we got to Jackson. :eek: :eek: :eek: What was it, 15 or 16 innings? Geeesh, from listening to it, it sounded like UGA was bound and determined not to lose today, whatever it took. MSU will be ready for the tourney, though, I guarantee that. And I'm not sure who y'all have next weekend, but I feel sorry for them. Good luck!

thanks man. Yeah it was 15 innings of hell. I put on the Stattracker and and we were up 7-1, me and my wife went to lunch, came back and took a short nap, then came in and it is 8-8, in the 14th, obviously I did this :bang: :bang: then next thing I know, UGA scores in bottom of 15th to win it. Well I hope we get it together before then, will be a short stay if not, I mean we don't have the killer bats and our pitching, which is our strong spot this year has really struggled since the midpoint of the season. But I will give credit where credit is due, UGA came into that series as one of the hottest teams in the league, they had won 6 straight games and started to play real solid ball, unfortuanately a bit late to make the tourney, but good enough to mess up the seedings of the ones that are going. Now our last opponent comes to Starkville and this particular team is struggling worse than us, I expect nothing less than a sweep by us regardless, can you name that team? :D

Congratulations Rebels on the sweep. Looks like the Rebels are getting ready for tournament time. You guys will have a hard time keeping Head if he keeps playing the way he's playing. The Rebels struck gold with him. Congratulations again.
Oh yeah, the Gamecocks swept the Tide this weekend too.

How in the devil has Florida managed to stay ranked in the top 25 with a losing record in conference play. We can get ranked a lose a single game and they yank us out so quick we get wind burn!

Hey Gators! (and those that rank you in the top 25) :arse: :arse:

msudawgs64 Wrote:Now our last opponent comes to Starkville and this particular team is struggling worse than us, I expect nothing less than a sweep by us regardless, can you name that team? :D

Well, if it's that team from the state just to the East of Mississippi, and it's not Auburn.....then I have a good idea!

Am I right?

REBstill Wrote:How in the devil has Florida managed to stay ranked in the top 25 with a losing record in conference play. We can get ranked a lose a single game and they yank us out so quick we get wind burn!

Hey Gators! (and those that rank you in the top 25) :arse: :arse:

they are traditionally the darlings of the polls, all of them. I do agree though, this year the pollsters did not know what the hell they were doing.

USC66 Wrote:Congratulations Rebels on the sweep. Looks like the Rebels are getting ready for tournament time. You guys will have a hard time keeping Head if he keeps playing the way he's playing. The Rebels struck gold with him. Congratulations again.
Oh yeah, the Gamecocks swept the Tide this weekend too.

Thanks, 66, and congrats to you, as well. Good luck in the tourney!

And you're right about Stephen Head, I just hope nobody has heard of him outside of the SEC just yet.... Yeah right! :rolleyes: Have I mentioned before that he is simply unreal?

msudawgs64 Wrote:Can you name that team? :D

The Bummers from Bammy! Bring your brooms to the stadium!!!

Sorry about today's loss! :bang: When I saw you guys were up 7-1 in the 7th, I thought you'd be about ready to take it to the house by the time I got out of Oxford heading back to Elvistown! Had no idea the thing was going to go for 15 freaking innings!!!

10MAN Wrote:

msudawgs64 Wrote:Now our last opponent comes to Starkville and this particular team is struggling worse than us, I expect nothing less than a sweep by us regardless, can you name that team?  :D

Well, if it's that team from the state just to the East of Mississippi, and it's not Auburn.....then I have a good idea!

Am I right?

ding, ding, ding, we have a winner. :D We play my alma mater on Tuesday at 3, oh joy, then Winthrop Tuesday at 6:30 and Wednesday, then them this weekend.

10MAN Wrote:

USC66 Wrote:Congratulations Rebels on the sweep. Looks like the Rebels are getting ready for tournament time. You guys will have a hard time keeping Head if he keeps playing the way he's playing. The Rebels struck gold with him. Congratulations again.
  Oh yeah, the Gamecocks swept the Tide this weekend too.

Thanks, 66, and congrats to you, as well. Good luck in the tourney!

And you're right about Stephen Head, I just hope nobody has heard of him outside of the SEC just yet.... Yeah right! :rolleyes: Have I mentioned before that he is simply unreal?

Oh yeah, he has been heard of..this is one way to really tell just how much of a difference he has been..Well for one thing, Ole Miss is tourney bound, next, take a look at where he will be drafted in the baseball draft, which I bet he will. He was undrafted out of high school but will get picked by someone this year, probably in the lower rounds though, most pro teams will not take a chance on him yet in the upper rounds, why I don't know, other than they would want to see him play the same consistent ball again. But anyway I bet he will be at Ole Miss next year and hopefully thru his senior season, hell the pros will still be there, I hope he stays and enjoys college and college ball, it only happens once for ya.

SURE HOPE HEAD PASSES ON THE DRAFT. HE SHOULD REALIZE THAT
HE'S GOT TO SPEND TIME IN THE MINORS IN SOME DREARY TOWNS.
SEC BASEBALL CAN BE SO MUCH NICER FOR A KID.



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OLE MISS: A CUT ABOVE.

moreb Wrote:SURE HOPE HEAD PASSES ON THE DRAFT. HE SHOULD REALIZE THAT
HE'S GOT TO SPEND TIME IN THE MINORS IN SOME DREARY TOWNS.
SEC BASEBALL CAN BE SO MUCH NICER FOR A KID.



---------------------------------------------
OLE MISS: A CUT ABOVE.

well I do too, like I said, my best guess for him this year would be a mid to low round draft pick, though that sounds bad, in baseball it really ain't as bad as say football or basketball. There are so many dang rounds in baseball, but what you are saying is true, unless you are first round, you will start in rookie ball and toil there until moving up to the next level. This kid does have the stuff to make it to the show one day, but right now I would recommend to him to just keep on playing college ball and soaking up the experience. Plus if Tampa Bay drafts him, most definetely stay in school.

msudawgs64 Wrote:Plus if Tampa Bay drafts him, most definetely stay in school.

So true!

MLB
Drafted by the D-Rays=career death wish

NBA
Drafted by the Clippers=career death wish

NFL
Drafted by the Bengals=career death wish


Note: I'm certainly hoping that NFL death wish does not occur this year, for a particular Trojanesque reason.

I think for sure that Head will be around another year, but if he continues to play and improve like he's done this year, he very well may be gone next year. Maybe he'll choose to play out his college years. That would be cool to see but if the money is there he'll probably jump. I would.

Wow!!!! What a weekend it was, and I'm thankful that I was able to be in attendance on Saturday and Sunday. Rx, 10MAN, NPR, and Mrs. 10MAN, it was great seeing you guys yesterday.

Two other members of my crew and I backed up my truck to the left field fence and put on the State/UGA game after ours and we stayed out there and listened to all of those extra innings and finished off a bit of beer. We were out there until about 5:30 yesterday afternoon...three hours after our game. What a day for baseball!

Hotty Toddy!!!!

WR

WizardRebel Wrote:Wow!!!! What a weekend it was, and I'm thankful that I was able to be in attendance on Saturday and Sunday. Rx, 10MAN, NPR, and Mrs. 10MAN, it was great seeing you guys yesterday.

Two other members of my crew and I backed up my truck to the left field fence and put on the State/UGA game after ours and we stayed out there and listened to all of those extra innings and finished off a bit of beer. We were out there until about 5:30 yesterday afternoon...three hours after our game. What a day for baseball!

Hotty Toddy!!!!

WR

Good Gawd, you stayed there that long? :eek: Damn, we were already back in Jackson by the time the State-UGA game had finished, and we listened to it, too, all the way home....much to the chagrin of my wife.

But, it was good to see you, too, pal, and hey I'm NOT an internet geek, ok? You got that, you $4 DJ?


Just kidding, bro, it was good to see the gang again. We heard you yelling, too, by the way, Wiz!