Texas A&M kept its SEC West lead and ended Ole Miss’ win streak with a 10-5 victory at Swayze Field on Thursday.
The Rebels had won seven straight to get back in the postseason picture, but seven runs in the first two innings were too much to overcome against the Aggies. Game two is at 7 p.m. Friday with the finale at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday.
Ole Miss is now 31-20 overall and 13-15 in the league. Texas A&M, at 18-10 in the league, is tied with Arkansas for the West lead and has the tiebreaker for seeding purposes. With two games remaining in the regular season, the Rebels are currently ninth in the league standings. If Hoover started today, Ole Miss would play Florida in a single elimination game on Tuesday.
The Rebels can’t be the 1-5, 11 or 12 seed in the SEC Tournament and won’t play the last game of the day on Tuesday.
Here are observations from Thursday’s A&M win.
Mike Bianco and John Gaddis were ejected during the ninth inning. TAMU hit back to back home runs and on the second one, words were exchanged between Peyton Chatagnier and Dylan Rock around second base. Gaddis threw at the next batter with the first pitch and was immediately ejected. Bianco was then ejected seconds later because a warning had been issued a batter earlier. A pitcher being ejected carries a four-game suspension which its certainly critical at this point of the season. Ole Miss needs to win a game at the SEC Tournament for Gaddis to be available for a potential regional opener.
Texas A&M just played better. Dylan DeLucia didn’t pitch well, and Ole Miss squandered chances, and we’ll get to that in a second, but it all boils down to the Aggies playing better baseball. The Rebels had two errors and TAMU didn’t have any. Texas A&M had 22 at-bats with runners base, leading to six hits. Ole Miss only had 13 at-bats with a runner on. And Texas A&M made key pitches to hold up the early lead.
DeLucia, throwing two days short of normal rest, looked mortal for the second time in three weeks. He got just five outs in 15 batters faced and gave up seven runs — three earned — on five hits. He was squeezed at the plate in key situations, but threw 57 pitches — 31 strikes — in 1.2 innings. The right-hander, who had thrown at least 104 pitches in five straight starts, didn’t have his usual fastball and everything seemed fairly flat. Ole Miss needs him back in form for an expected Tuesday start in Hoover.
Ole Miss left 10 on base including two each in the second, fourth and eighth innings. Jacob Gonzalez was up with two outs twice and Tim Elko once in those situations. Gonzalez grounded out in the second, Elko struck out in the fourth and Gonzalez hit a line drive that was headed for left field, but A&M played the shift perfectly and ended the inning.
The 2-through-6 spots in the Ole Miss order went 1-for-21. Gonzalez and Elko each went 0-for-4. Hayden Dunhurst was 3-for-3 with a three-run double in the second inning.
Hayden Leatherwood committed two errors on one play in the second inning that led to four runs for the Aggies.
Jack Dougherty and Mason Nichols were great in relief. Dougherty allowed two inherited runners to score but otherwise scattered five hits and no runs in 2.2 innings. Nichols gave up one run in 2.2 innings. It was a base runner Gaddis allowed to score.
Ole Miss needs a win or two the rest of the way to feel good about a regional berth. There's a lot on freshman Hunter Elliott tomorrow night. More on that in the morning.
Bianco nor any players were available for interviews following the game. We spoke with Carl Lafferty. I'll add anything of note when I transcribe it. Nothing sticks out off the top of my head.
The Rebels had won seven straight to get back in the postseason picture, but seven runs in the first two innings were too much to overcome against the Aggies. Game two is at 7 p.m. Friday with the finale at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday.
Ole Miss is now 31-20 overall and 13-15 in the league. Texas A&M, at 18-10 in the league, is tied with Arkansas for the West lead and has the tiebreaker for seeding purposes. With two games remaining in the regular season, the Rebels are currently ninth in the league standings. If Hoover started today, Ole Miss would play Florida in a single elimination game on Tuesday.
The Rebels can’t be the 1-5, 11 or 12 seed in the SEC Tournament and won’t play the last game of the day on Tuesday.
Here are observations from Thursday’s A&M win.
Mike Bianco and John Gaddis were ejected during the ninth inning. TAMU hit back to back home runs and on the second one, words were exchanged between Peyton Chatagnier and Dylan Rock around second base. Gaddis threw at the next batter with the first pitch and was immediately ejected. Bianco was then ejected seconds later because a warning had been issued a batter earlier. A pitcher being ejected carries a four-game suspension which its certainly critical at this point of the season. Ole Miss needs to win a game at the SEC Tournament for Gaddis to be available for a potential regional opener.
Texas A&M just played better. Dylan DeLucia didn’t pitch well, and Ole Miss squandered chances, and we’ll get to that in a second, but it all boils down to the Aggies playing better baseball. The Rebels had two errors and TAMU didn’t have any. Texas A&M had 22 at-bats with runners base, leading to six hits. Ole Miss only had 13 at-bats with a runner on. And Texas A&M made key pitches to hold up the early lead.
DeLucia, throwing two days short of normal rest, looked mortal for the second time in three weeks. He got just five outs in 15 batters faced and gave up seven runs — three earned — on five hits. He was squeezed at the plate in key situations, but threw 57 pitches — 31 strikes — in 1.2 innings. The right-hander, who had thrown at least 104 pitches in five straight starts, didn’t have his usual fastball and everything seemed fairly flat. Ole Miss needs him back in form for an expected Tuesday start in Hoover.
Ole Miss left 10 on base including two each in the second, fourth and eighth innings. Jacob Gonzalez was up with two outs twice and Tim Elko once in those situations. Gonzalez grounded out in the second, Elko struck out in the fourth and Gonzalez hit a line drive that was headed for left field, but A&M played the shift perfectly and ended the inning.
The 2-through-6 spots in the Ole Miss order went 1-for-21. Gonzalez and Elko each went 0-for-4. Hayden Dunhurst was 3-for-3 with a three-run double in the second inning.
Hayden Leatherwood committed two errors on one play in the second inning that led to four runs for the Aggies.
Jack Dougherty and Mason Nichols were great in relief. Dougherty allowed two inherited runners to score but otherwise scattered five hits and no runs in 2.2 innings. Nichols gave up one run in 2.2 innings. It was a base runner Gaddis allowed to score.
Ole Miss needs a win or two the rest of the way to feel good about a regional berth. There's a lot on freshman Hunter Elliott tomorrow night. More on that in the morning.
Bianco nor any players were available for interviews following the game. We spoke with Carl Lafferty. I'll add anything of note when I transcribe it. Nothing sticks out off the top of my head.
