Ole Miss hammered South Carolina, 9-1, on Thursday at Founders Park to open the three-game set.
The Rebels, now 5-8 in the SEC, try to win the series at 6 p.m. CT on Friday. The series closes at noon CT on Saturday. South Carolina (4-9 SEC) back-ended both Texas and Vanderbilt to take series in Columbia and will have to do the same for success against Ole Miss. The Rebels are 5-2 on the road in the SEC this season. South Carolina is 16-17 overall.
Here are observations from the Ole Miss (21-12) win.
Dylan DeLucia was phenomenal on Thursday. The junior college transfer was very efficient and didn’t throw 20 pitches in an inning until the eight. He allowed one run in 7.2 innings, scattering six hits with four strikeouts and a walk. DeLucia threw 80 strikes in 120 pitches, but that final line didn’t tell the whole story because of some late laboring that he still minimized.
DeLucia was only at 59 pitches through five innings and retired nine in a row until a two-out hit in the sixth stopped that streak. He located the fastball wherever he wanted and the breaking ball was effective to both sides of the plate.
“He put up zeroes and got us off to a good start, but then around the middle he just hit another gear and it was great to see,” Mike Bianco said. “He really used the slider in fastball counts and vice versa and kept that right-hand-dominant lineup off track.”
In DeLucia’s two starts this season, he’s allowed one earned run in 14 innings (UK and USC). He’s looked confident and in control as a starter. It’s a small sample size, but considering Ole Miss’ starting pitching issues, I don’t see how you run anyone else out in weekend openers right now. He can go deep into games and has had success. He’s the only Ole Miss pitcher to go at least six innings in an SEC game. He’s done it three times. DeLucia said after the game he had never been a bullpen arm prior to this season. He paused at which her preferred and said he will do whatever job is in front of him, but it wasn’t hard to figure out he’s more used to starting games. The one run came in the eighth when he was laboring, but the velocity was steady, and there was no obvious distress. It was fine to see if he could get out of it.
In what continues to be a statistical oddity, DeLucia has an 11.68 ERA at home and a 1.27 ERA on the road. But his only two starts are on the road.
Ole Miss, early on, had really good at-bats against South Carolina. The Rebels got to starter Aidan Hunter for eight hits and seven runs in just three innings. TJ McCants and Reagan Burford both hit home runs. Hunter couldn’t keep his fastball out of the middle of the plate, and Ole Miss did what it was supposed to with it. It was the best through-the-lineup approach I’ve seen from the Rebels in several weeks.
“We got in good counts and our at-bats were more competitive,” Bianco said. “We walked and got traffic on the bases and then the home runs broke it open.”
Ole Miss was 7-for-17 with runners on and 4-for-8 with runners in scoring position. Carolina, which came in hitting .185 against right-handers in SEC play, was 2-for-13 and 0-for-5, respectively, in those two stats. The Gamecocks only got the lead runner on once.
McCants’ two-run shot put Ole Miss up 2-0, and Burford’s three-run home run came an inning later. Tim Elko’s two-strike RBI single in the fourth ran Hunter.
It was important for Ole Miss to get to Justin Gilreath in the eighth inning. The Carolina lefty reliever retired his first 12 straight before Burford opened the eighth with a walk and Peyton Chatagnier and Justin Bench hit back-to-back singles. Elko also had an RBI ground out. After such a good start to the game offensively, Ole Miss needed and got some late-inning momentum at the plate for tomorrow. Gilreath never getting touched would have been a bit of a buzzkill.
Bench had three hits and looked good all night. He makes so much sense at the top of the order. Jacob Gonzalez walked four times. Hunter really nibbled against him and didn’t want to bring anything over the plate. He only saw four strikes in the 20 pitches during the at-bats that led to the walks. His other plate appearance was a second-pitch line out.
Ole Miss needs to keep the gas pressed tomorrow. Vandy beat USC 10-0 to open their series and then lost the next two. Texas beat the Gamecocks, 9-5, to open that weekend and then USC swept a doubleheader. There’s an opportunity here against an offensively challenged team. And the Rebels need to keep up what was pretty good defense. It was a very clean game other than Burford’s error in the eighth inning. Burford has eight errors in 53 chances this season.
The Rebels, now 5-8 in the SEC, try to win the series at 6 p.m. CT on Friday. The series closes at noon CT on Saturday. South Carolina (4-9 SEC) back-ended both Texas and Vanderbilt to take series in Columbia and will have to do the same for success against Ole Miss. The Rebels are 5-2 on the road in the SEC this season. South Carolina is 16-17 overall.
Here are observations from the Ole Miss (21-12) win.
Dylan DeLucia was phenomenal on Thursday. The junior college transfer was very efficient and didn’t throw 20 pitches in an inning until the eight. He allowed one run in 7.2 innings, scattering six hits with four strikeouts and a walk. DeLucia threw 80 strikes in 120 pitches, but that final line didn’t tell the whole story because of some late laboring that he still minimized.
DeLucia was only at 59 pitches through five innings and retired nine in a row until a two-out hit in the sixth stopped that streak. He located the fastball wherever he wanted and the breaking ball was effective to both sides of the plate.
“He put up zeroes and got us off to a good start, but then around the middle he just hit another gear and it was great to see,” Mike Bianco said. “He really used the slider in fastball counts and vice versa and kept that right-hand-dominant lineup off track.”
In DeLucia’s two starts this season, he’s allowed one earned run in 14 innings (UK and USC). He’s looked confident and in control as a starter. It’s a small sample size, but considering Ole Miss’ starting pitching issues, I don’t see how you run anyone else out in weekend openers right now. He can go deep into games and has had success. He’s the only Ole Miss pitcher to go at least six innings in an SEC game. He’s done it three times. DeLucia said after the game he had never been a bullpen arm prior to this season. He paused at which her preferred and said he will do whatever job is in front of him, but it wasn’t hard to figure out he’s more used to starting games. The one run came in the eighth when he was laboring, but the velocity was steady, and there was no obvious distress. It was fine to see if he could get out of it.
In what continues to be a statistical oddity, DeLucia has an 11.68 ERA at home and a 1.27 ERA on the road. But his only two starts are on the road.
Ole Miss, early on, had really good at-bats against South Carolina. The Rebels got to starter Aidan Hunter for eight hits and seven runs in just three innings. TJ McCants and Reagan Burford both hit home runs. Hunter couldn’t keep his fastball out of the middle of the plate, and Ole Miss did what it was supposed to with it. It was the best through-the-lineup approach I’ve seen from the Rebels in several weeks.
“We got in good counts and our at-bats were more competitive,” Bianco said. “We walked and got traffic on the bases and then the home runs broke it open.”
Ole Miss was 7-for-17 with runners on and 4-for-8 with runners in scoring position. Carolina, which came in hitting .185 against right-handers in SEC play, was 2-for-13 and 0-for-5, respectively, in those two stats. The Gamecocks only got the lead runner on once.
McCants’ two-run shot put Ole Miss up 2-0, and Burford’s three-run home run came an inning later. Tim Elko’s two-strike RBI single in the fourth ran Hunter.
It was important for Ole Miss to get to Justin Gilreath in the eighth inning. The Carolina lefty reliever retired his first 12 straight before Burford opened the eighth with a walk and Peyton Chatagnier and Justin Bench hit back-to-back singles. Elko also had an RBI ground out. After such a good start to the game offensively, Ole Miss needed and got some late-inning momentum at the plate for tomorrow. Gilreath never getting touched would have been a bit of a buzzkill.
Bench had three hits and looked good all night. He makes so much sense at the top of the order. Jacob Gonzalez walked four times. Hunter really nibbled against him and didn’t want to bring anything over the plate. He only saw four strikes in the 20 pitches during the at-bats that led to the walks. His other plate appearance was a second-pitch line out.
Ole Miss needs to keep the gas pressed tomorrow. Vandy beat USC 10-0 to open their series and then lost the next two. Texas beat the Gamecocks, 9-5, to open that weekend and then USC swept a doubleheader. There’s an opportunity here against an offensively challenged team. And the Rebels need to keep up what was pretty good defense. It was a very clean game other than Burford’s error in the eighth inning. Burford has eight errors in 53 chances this season.
