Ole Miss faces High Point at 4 p.m. today, 5 p.m. tomorrow and 1:30 p.m. on Sunday. Remember the Saturday time is a change because of basketball so the two sports don't overlap. The Panthers are not good. They are 1-4 on the season, losing three of four to UMass-Lowell and a midweek game to App State. They were picked fourth in the Big South. Last year High Point was 12-15 in the league and 20-34 overall. Hughes is arguably the top pitcher in the conference and has a legitimate swing-and-miss curve ball. It's an older team that while not good, they do have a lot of continuity. High Point lost its best pitcher to Oklahoma State in the portal during the offseason.
Rotations for the weekend:
Ole Miss: RHP JT Quinn
0-0, 8.10 ERA, 6 K, 3 BB
High Point: LHP Brett Wozniak
0-0, 7.20 ERA, 3 K, 3 BB
Ole Miss: LHP Gunnar Dennis
1-0, 4.50 ERA, 1 K, 3 BB
High Point: RHP Gus Hughes
1-0, 1.80 ERA, 6 K, 1 BB
Ole Miss: RHP Grayson Saunier
0-0, 9.82 ERA, 5 K, 3 BB
High Point: RHP Howell Polk
0-1, 7.20 ERA, 4 K, 0 BB
Mike Bianco said Campbell Smithwick's toe is doing well, and Tuesday was about getting innings for Eli Berch behind the plate and then they wanted Smithwick's bat off the bench. Bianco called Berch the backup, so I expect to see Smithwick at least twice this weekend.
"There's no playbook for this. I thought with the left-handed pitcher let's give him a bit of a break. Then, we needed the bat, and his toe has felt fine every time we've asked him. It wasn't that he couldn't play. He's done everything. And we want to give Eli enough reps. Your backup has to be able to play. It's a little bit of a juggle."
I thought these two quotes were somewhat telling. The first one he admits the offense is pressing in spots, which you can easily see, but it's just such an interesting storyline to be this early in the year. Portal guys trying to do a lot and justify and last year is hanging over some people. It feels like a weird dynamic for whatever reason.
"That's fair to say and it happens. I don't know if they are all pressing; some of them feel pretty good at the plate. Probably a lot of them and a lot of new faces. Even if they had success at this level, they didn't have success here, and that hasn't happened yet."
The question here was just how was the pitching on Wednesday. Mike mentioned the blame game. I don't know if it's an issue or just something on his mind to head off before it happens. He doesn't really mention this ever so it stuck out.
"It's hard to say we pitched it good because we lost. It wasn't like we lost 1-0... We have to be better on mound and all three phases. I know it's your job (to ask), but it's what I told them to guard against -- it's easy to sit back and say did the pitchers pitch well and it's the hitters' fault. Is it the pitchers' fault. That's it, and you have to get out of the blame game and collectively we need to play better in all three phases."
Rotations for the weekend:
Ole Miss: RHP JT Quinn
0-0, 8.10 ERA, 6 K, 3 BB
High Point: LHP Brett Wozniak
0-0, 7.20 ERA, 3 K, 3 BB
Ole Miss: LHP Gunnar Dennis
1-0, 4.50 ERA, 1 K, 3 BB
High Point: RHP Gus Hughes
1-0, 1.80 ERA, 6 K, 1 BB
Ole Miss: RHP Grayson Saunier
0-0, 9.82 ERA, 5 K, 3 BB
High Point: RHP Howell Polk
0-1, 7.20 ERA, 4 K, 0 BB
Mike Bianco said Campbell Smithwick's toe is doing well, and Tuesday was about getting innings for Eli Berch behind the plate and then they wanted Smithwick's bat off the bench. Bianco called Berch the backup, so I expect to see Smithwick at least twice this weekend.
"There's no playbook for this. I thought with the left-handed pitcher let's give him a bit of a break. Then, we needed the bat, and his toe has felt fine every time we've asked him. It wasn't that he couldn't play. He's done everything. And we want to give Eli enough reps. Your backup has to be able to play. It's a little bit of a juggle."
I thought these two quotes were somewhat telling. The first one he admits the offense is pressing in spots, which you can easily see, but it's just such an interesting storyline to be this early in the year. Portal guys trying to do a lot and justify and last year is hanging over some people. It feels like a weird dynamic for whatever reason.
"That's fair to say and it happens. I don't know if they are all pressing; some of them feel pretty good at the plate. Probably a lot of them and a lot of new faces. Even if they had success at this level, they didn't have success here, and that hasn't happened yet."
The question here was just how was the pitching on Wednesday. Mike mentioned the blame game. I don't know if it's an issue or just something on his mind to head off before it happens. He doesn't really mention this ever so it stuck out.
"It's hard to say we pitched it good because we lost. It wasn't like we lost 1-0... We have to be better on mound and all three phases. I know it's your job (to ask), but it's what I told them to guard against -- it's easy to sit back and say did the pitchers pitch well and it's the hitters' fault. Is it the pitchers' fault. That's it, and you have to get out of the blame game and collectively we need to play better in all three phases."
