Appreciate your thoughts and patience tonight, as I'm in Amory for my great-grandmother's funeral services tonight and tomorrow. She was 98 so not much to be sad about with her life other than Alzheimer's for the last decade or so.
Ole Miss beats Southern Miss, 11-2, on Tuesday in Pearl, running its record to 24-10 overall and obviously 8-4 in the SEC with Kentucky coming to town this weekend. While weekends are much more critical than midweeks, it was a big win to move the nonconference record to 16-6 with four non-league games remaining -- at USM, MSU, Arkansas State and Memphis. The Rebels have a shot at salvaging this portion of the schedule.
The Rebels took advantage of opportunities and made the Golden Eagles pay for not playing very well. That's 51 combined runs in the last four games, and the five-run sixth inning turned it after USM walked the bases loaded with one out.
Knox Loposer had the big two-run double in the inning, his second such hit in as many games in place of Cooper Johnson. While Johnson is clearly the catcher, I think Loposer deserves some DH at-bats. Opponents don't have a book on him yet, so the Rebs can use that to third advantage. He has gap power and has shown good bat control on fastballs.
Mike Bianco handled the pitching staff well tonight and the late onslaught allowed him to keep Parker Caracci from getting all the way hot. Austin Miller and Tyler Myers only threw 23 and 29 pitches, respectively, so both will be available and fresh on Friday.
Gunnar Hoglund finished up the final five outs on 24 pitches, so he's still an option for Sunday if Ole Miss wants to go that direction.
All this was made possible with Zack Phillips giving Ole Miss 4.1 innings and keeping the Rebels in the game. Phillips scattered seven hits and gave up two runs with six strikeouts and no walks. He stranded five runners in the first two innings, so there were still some issues, but he worked out of both innings without crazy damage and was very clean in the third and fourth innings. Considering his calmness in high-leverage at-bats and his night of no walks with some swing-and-miss stuff it was certainly a step in the right direction. He retired nine in a row at one point.
Phillips had wilted at times this year with runners on, so that was the story of the night to see him work through that. He hit two and threw a wild pitch but all in all not a bad effort. And Bianco certainly got him out at the right time.
Ole Miss has won five in a row against Southern Miss including four straight at Trustmark Park.
Grae Kessinger showed a lot of patience on Tuesday, walking three times and getting hit by a pitch in five at-bats. He scored twice and stole a base. Loposer had three RBIs.
Ole Miss smartly held Ryan Olenek from action. He was "70 percent" on Monday, and he's the Rebels' engine, so it wouldn't be smart to rush him back from the hip pain -- and overall soreness -- from the weekend.
Four USM errors led to six unearned runs. Ole Miss didn't let the Eagles off the hook. These past four games have been textbook offensively. Patience and then explosion when opportunity shows itself.
Ole Miss beats Southern Miss, 11-2, on Tuesday in Pearl, running its record to 24-10 overall and obviously 8-4 in the SEC with Kentucky coming to town this weekend. While weekends are much more critical than midweeks, it was a big win to move the nonconference record to 16-6 with four non-league games remaining -- at USM, MSU, Arkansas State and Memphis. The Rebels have a shot at salvaging this portion of the schedule.
The Rebels took advantage of opportunities and made the Golden Eagles pay for not playing very well. That's 51 combined runs in the last four games, and the five-run sixth inning turned it after USM walked the bases loaded with one out.
Knox Loposer had the big two-run double in the inning, his second such hit in as many games in place of Cooper Johnson. While Johnson is clearly the catcher, I think Loposer deserves some DH at-bats. Opponents don't have a book on him yet, so the Rebs can use that to third advantage. He has gap power and has shown good bat control on fastballs.
Mike Bianco handled the pitching staff well tonight and the late onslaught allowed him to keep Parker Caracci from getting all the way hot. Austin Miller and Tyler Myers only threw 23 and 29 pitches, respectively, so both will be available and fresh on Friday.
Gunnar Hoglund finished up the final five outs on 24 pitches, so he's still an option for Sunday if Ole Miss wants to go that direction.
All this was made possible with Zack Phillips giving Ole Miss 4.1 innings and keeping the Rebels in the game. Phillips scattered seven hits and gave up two runs with six strikeouts and no walks. He stranded five runners in the first two innings, so there were still some issues, but he worked out of both innings without crazy damage and was very clean in the third and fourth innings. Considering his calmness in high-leverage at-bats and his night of no walks with some swing-and-miss stuff it was certainly a step in the right direction. He retired nine in a row at one point.
Phillips had wilted at times this year with runners on, so that was the story of the night to see him work through that. He hit two and threw a wild pitch but all in all not a bad effort. And Bianco certainly got him out at the right time.
Ole Miss has won five in a row against Southern Miss including four straight at Trustmark Park.
Grae Kessinger showed a lot of patience on Tuesday, walking three times and getting hit by a pitch in five at-bats. He scored twice and stole a base. Loposer had three RBIs.
Ole Miss smartly held Ryan Olenek from action. He was "70 percent" on Monday, and he's the Rebels' engine, so it wouldn't be smart to rush him back from the hip pain -- and overall soreness -- from the weekend.
Four USM errors led to six unearned runs. Ole Miss didn't let the Eagles off the hook. These past four games have been textbook offensively. Patience and then explosion when opportunity shows itself.
