The Georgia baseball team capped off its first losing week of the season yesterday with a 6-1 loss to No. 11 Ole Miss in the rubber game of a three- game series in Oxford, Miss.

The Rebels’ All-American pitcher Scott Bittle (5-2) held the Diamond Dogs the entire evening, racking up 11 strikeouts in only seven innings of work.

“We just couldn’t get to any full counts against Bittle,” Georgia coach David Perno said in a statement following the game. “He is tough and never gives in.”

After inexplicably losing to Jacksonville State 9-7 Wednesday night, Georgia took the first game of the series Friday night on a grand slam by junior catcher Joey Lewis. The Diamond Dogs (33-11, 14-7 SEC) dropped the second game Saturday evening 10-8. Georgia opens a seven-game homestand Wednesday when it faces Jacksonville State again, this time at home.

“We have to put it behind us. All that matters is how we finish,” Perno said. “We have to get better and that’s the most important thing about playing at home the next couple of weeks.”

Georgia’s lone run came in the top of the first inning Sunday when Lewis drove in freshman Colby May with a two-out single. But Georgia’s lead didn’t last long as Ole Miss (32-12, 13-8) scored two in the bottom of the inning and never looked back. The Rebels would add one run in the fourth and then poured it on with three more runs in the sixth. Georgia’s Justin Grimm (2-3) earned the loss, while giving up five runs – four earned – in five innings of work.

Cecil Tanner pitched the seventh and eighth innings of the contest, striking out four and lowering his ERA to 2.45 Georgia only had five hits on the evening, two of which came from May, who was 2-3 on the evening. Lewis, Levi Hyams and Rich Poythress each added a hit apiece.