Jacob Gonzalez did all he could to save Ole Miss on Saturday.
The preseason All-America selection hit three home runs, the first Rebel to do so since Jude Voltz against Vanderbilt in 1999, but Ole Miss’ inconsistent pitching and defense denied the onslaught of long balls.
Ole Miss hit six home runs, but Alabama’s seventh inning and slam and two-run 10th-inning blast gave the Tide the needed margin to clinch the series against the Rebels with an 12-10 victory. Ole Miss tries to avoid the sweep at 2 p.m. on Sunday.
Gonzalez had six RBIs, courtesy of a solo, a two-run home run and a three-run home run. Peyton Chatagnier also had three hits including a home run, his third three-hit game of the season and first since March 19 against Auburn. He had three total hits in the last nine games.
Ole Miss led 7-3 at the end of four innings, responding both times Alabama scored to prevent shutdown innings by the Tide. It was pretty by script for how the Rebels needed to play today and was going well until Alabama scored three in the sixth to chase Jack Dougherty and then the four in the seventh on the grand slam.
The seventh inning was a mess. With Ole Miss up a run and after a ground out and a four-pitch walk brought in Brandon Johnson to replace Riley Maddox, a chopper to third turned into a devastating error by Reagan Burford. Instead of two outs and one on, two were on with one out and a walk and the home run followed. Burford has seven errors in 41 chances, an .829 fielding percentage. His bat definitely has potential, but the defensive liability, considering other poor defensive situations on the field to go with it, is a problem.
Burford hit a fourth-inning home run, the front end of a back-to-back situation with Gonzalez.
Tim Elko’s ninth-inning home run tied the game, and Kevin Graham flew out to the warning track a batter later, missing the walk-off home run by fewer than five feet. Kemp Alderman and Calvin Harris reached with a single and walk, respectively, after Graham, but Hayden Leatherwood and Hayden Dunhurst struck out to end the inning. Alabama hit a two-run home run off Johnson in the 10th to win it.
Elko’s fourth-inning RBI single was the only run driven in without a home run. The Rebels had 15 hits but walked only twice and still struggled to put up quality at-bats outside of the long ball. It’s the story of this offense and not in a good way. The Rebels score and succeed at the plate when the ball leaves the yard. Otherwise, it’s a struggle. Ole Miss struck out 13 times.
John Gaddis and Johnson each threw 3.2 innings on Saturday and both eclipsed 80 pitches. Johnson allowed 9 of 19 base runners to reach.
“It’s been a tough week for (Johnson), but he’s our guy,” Bianco said. “He’s terrific, and when you get put in that spot, you want them to go after (the hitter) and be aggressive and he’s done that. Today we kind of screwed up that inning in the seventh and everyone had a part in that. But he’s our guy and he’ll be back out there.”
As I said elsewhere on the board, Bianco’s postgame was really brief with the team. A day after you could hear him getting on them pretty good with a raised voice, it was to the point and seemed to be softer. He’s trying everything at this point and we can pick apart some managerial stuff, but today the players didn’t do enough. There were too many mistakes, and Ole Miss lost on a day that it hit five home runs. That’s almost hard to do.
“Just disappointing,” Bianco said. “This game will rip your heart out. The point was to not shy away from this. When you put it on the line, sometimes it doesn't work, but you have to be able to compete like this every day. We haven't. Been too up and down. Today we did, and it didn't work out. The second thing was to stay together. When things don't go your way and have a tough week, it's easy to not only to get down but be careful for what you hear around. You have to make sure you stay in your dugout, put your arm around your people and get ready to compete tomorrow.”
Saturday was a painful loss for the players; their body language was pretty noticeable leaving the field. He pushed the right button as far as the message because hammering them right then wouldn’t have solved anything, and he needs them getting to the park in a good place tomorrow. Frankly, it needs to be a desperate place, as the math is a major problem outside of the poor play. Ole Miss has only been 4-8 once under Bianco in league play, and that was in 2013 when the Rebels rallied to go 15-15 in the SEC before an 0-2 showing in the Raleigh Regional. The Rebels need a win tomorrow to avoid that. That season was also the last time Ole Miss lost five straight SEC home games.
Ole Miss had better energy today. The pitching just is what it is at this point and knowing when to hand the ball to someone else is going to be a task to be accomplished most games. I did think the Rebels responded to getting kicked in the teeth on Friday. So Bianco wasn’t wrong. But you also can only deliver that message he gave out today a couple times a season, and at some point it’s just about playing better and Bianco doing anything he can to put them in position to do that.
The current goal is to get back to .500 in league play to make sure the postseason is even a thing. If that’s accomplished, then other goals can be considered. But, as of right now, it’s about avoiding catastrophe. And that starts on Sunday. That 2013 team at least had Bobby Wahl and Mike Mayers. That doesn’t exist here, and Ole Miss simply, right now, isn’t good enough to give away games. It's a flawed team that seems to be in its collective head to some extent.
The preseason All-America selection hit three home runs, the first Rebel to do so since Jude Voltz against Vanderbilt in 1999, but Ole Miss’ inconsistent pitching and defense denied the onslaught of long balls.
Ole Miss hit six home runs, but Alabama’s seventh inning and slam and two-run 10th-inning blast gave the Tide the needed margin to clinch the series against the Rebels with an 12-10 victory. Ole Miss tries to avoid the sweep at 2 p.m. on Sunday.
Gonzalez had six RBIs, courtesy of a solo, a two-run home run and a three-run home run. Peyton Chatagnier also had three hits including a home run, his third three-hit game of the season and first since March 19 against Auburn. He had three total hits in the last nine games.
Ole Miss led 7-3 at the end of four innings, responding both times Alabama scored to prevent shutdown innings by the Tide. It was pretty by script for how the Rebels needed to play today and was going well until Alabama scored three in the sixth to chase Jack Dougherty and then the four in the seventh on the grand slam.
The seventh inning was a mess. With Ole Miss up a run and after a ground out and a four-pitch walk brought in Brandon Johnson to replace Riley Maddox, a chopper to third turned into a devastating error by Reagan Burford. Instead of two outs and one on, two were on with one out and a walk and the home run followed. Burford has seven errors in 41 chances, an .829 fielding percentage. His bat definitely has potential, but the defensive liability, considering other poor defensive situations on the field to go with it, is a problem.
Burford hit a fourth-inning home run, the front end of a back-to-back situation with Gonzalez.
Tim Elko’s ninth-inning home run tied the game, and Kevin Graham flew out to the warning track a batter later, missing the walk-off home run by fewer than five feet. Kemp Alderman and Calvin Harris reached with a single and walk, respectively, after Graham, but Hayden Leatherwood and Hayden Dunhurst struck out to end the inning. Alabama hit a two-run home run off Johnson in the 10th to win it.
Elko’s fourth-inning RBI single was the only run driven in without a home run. The Rebels had 15 hits but walked only twice and still struggled to put up quality at-bats outside of the long ball. It’s the story of this offense and not in a good way. The Rebels score and succeed at the plate when the ball leaves the yard. Otherwise, it’s a struggle. Ole Miss struck out 13 times.
John Gaddis and Johnson each threw 3.2 innings on Saturday and both eclipsed 80 pitches. Johnson allowed 9 of 19 base runners to reach.
“It’s been a tough week for (Johnson), but he’s our guy,” Bianco said. “He’s terrific, and when you get put in that spot, you want them to go after (the hitter) and be aggressive and he’s done that. Today we kind of screwed up that inning in the seventh and everyone had a part in that. But he’s our guy and he’ll be back out there.”
As I said elsewhere on the board, Bianco’s postgame was really brief with the team. A day after you could hear him getting on them pretty good with a raised voice, it was to the point and seemed to be softer. He’s trying everything at this point and we can pick apart some managerial stuff, but today the players didn’t do enough. There were too many mistakes, and Ole Miss lost on a day that it hit five home runs. That’s almost hard to do.
“Just disappointing,” Bianco said. “This game will rip your heart out. The point was to not shy away from this. When you put it on the line, sometimes it doesn't work, but you have to be able to compete like this every day. We haven't. Been too up and down. Today we did, and it didn't work out. The second thing was to stay together. When things don't go your way and have a tough week, it's easy to not only to get down but be careful for what you hear around. You have to make sure you stay in your dugout, put your arm around your people and get ready to compete tomorrow.”
Saturday was a painful loss for the players; their body language was pretty noticeable leaving the field. He pushed the right button as far as the message because hammering them right then wouldn’t have solved anything, and he needs them getting to the park in a good place tomorrow. Frankly, it needs to be a desperate place, as the math is a major problem outside of the poor play. Ole Miss has only been 4-8 once under Bianco in league play, and that was in 2013 when the Rebels rallied to go 15-15 in the SEC before an 0-2 showing in the Raleigh Regional. The Rebels need a win tomorrow to avoid that. That season was also the last time Ole Miss lost five straight SEC home games.
Ole Miss had better energy today. The pitching just is what it is at this point and knowing when to hand the ball to someone else is going to be a task to be accomplished most games. I did think the Rebels responded to getting kicked in the teeth on Friday. So Bianco wasn’t wrong. But you also can only deliver that message he gave out today a couple times a season, and at some point it’s just about playing better and Bianco doing anything he can to put them in position to do that.
The current goal is to get back to .500 in league play to make sure the postseason is even a thing. If that’s accomplished, then other goals can be considered. But, as of right now, it’s about avoiding catastrophe. And that starts on Sunday. That 2013 team at least had Bobby Wahl and Mike Mayers. That doesn’t exist here, and Ole Miss simply, right now, isn’t good enough to give away games. It's a flawed team that seems to be in its collective head to some extent.
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