The Ole Miss baseball program has got to be feeling good about its offensive potential next season, especially after the power displayed by Rebel commit Ben Van Cleve this week.
Although the Northwest Mississippi Community College Rangers were eliminated from the playoffs by Pearl River Community College, Van Cleve did everything in his power, literally, to keep his team alive.
That included two homers, including a game-tying three-run bomb in the bottom of the ninth inning to keep the game going into extras.
The Rangers would eventually fall 12-11, ending their season.
Van Cleve got the power flowing in the first inning, with a two-run homerun that gave his team a 3-0 lead.
The game would go back and forth, with the Rangers failing to hold onto a late lead in the eighth, giving up four runs on two two-run homers.
Van Cleve came up to the plate, with Northwest down to its final out. There were two on base when he sent a pitch over the left field wall to tie things up.
The game would remain tied through the tenth, but Pearl River would plate the game-winning run in the top of the eleventh to secure the win.
Van Cleve finished the game 3-for-5 with 5 RBI on the day.
He completed the 2019 campaign with a .375 average, hitting 14 homers and knocking in 47 for the Rangers.
Van Cleve’s next appearance on the baseball diamond will be in an Ole Miss uniform.
