Friday was about Ole Miss not being good enough in most every phase. Not good enough to take advantage of opportunities or keep LSU at close range. Not good enough defensively to get off the field.
The Tigers beat the Rebels, 8-3, with two home runs in the eighth inning following an error putting the game away. Daniel Cabrera hit a home run after Ryan Olenek misplayed a foul ball, and Drew Bianco hit a pinch hit bomb to add plenty of conversation to the situation.
Game two is Saturday at 6:30 p.m. Bottom line is Ole Miss has to play better. This isn’t about major adjustments or lineups or anything like that. It’s about playing clean baseball and handling situational baseball. Ole Miss did neither tonight.
Will Ethridge did his job, giving up four runs, three earned, in seven innings with four strikeouts and no walks. It kept Ole Miss in it, as the right-hander successfully mixed off-the-plate breaking balls with his fastball. He pitched backwards more than I’d seen and forced some bad swings. Ethridge deserved a better fate.
But it wasn’t to be, as Ole Miss was 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position and left 10 on base. Tyler Keenan had three hits, but Thomas Dillard and Cole Zabowski combined to go 0-for-8 with six strikeouts. The Rebels failed on two critical opportunities to get runners home from third with less than two outs, and Zack Hess completely turned the game for the Tigers.
After Ma’Khail Hilliard gave up back-to-back hits to begin the fifth with LSU up 3-1, it seemed Ole Miss had its opportunity. But Hess got a double play and a strikeout, and even though the Rebels cut it to on run, Hess overpowered Ole Miss with a mid 90s fastball and a slider that played against the Rebels’ aggressiveness. Hess allowed a solo shot to Cooper Johnson in the seventh but got Johnson with two outs and the bases loaded in the eighth. It was just a one-run game at the time before things blew up a half inning later.
Ole Miss is 30-17 and 13-9 in the SEC. LSU is 30-16 and 14-8. Arkansas leads the West at 16-6 and State is 14-8, as well. The Rebels have to finish at least 5-3 the rest of the way in the SEC to have a shot at hosting, in my opinion. This one was gettable, but Ole Miss wilted in major opportunities, and LSU came through with the swing plays that decided the game — much like a lot of games since 1982 at Alex Box Stadium.
Kessinger singled and walked to run his reached-base streak to 35 games.
The Tigers beat the Rebels, 8-3, with two home runs in the eighth inning following an error putting the game away. Daniel Cabrera hit a home run after Ryan Olenek misplayed a foul ball, and Drew Bianco hit a pinch hit bomb to add plenty of conversation to the situation.
Game two is Saturday at 6:30 p.m. Bottom line is Ole Miss has to play better. This isn’t about major adjustments or lineups or anything like that. It’s about playing clean baseball and handling situational baseball. Ole Miss did neither tonight.
Will Ethridge did his job, giving up four runs, three earned, in seven innings with four strikeouts and no walks. It kept Ole Miss in it, as the right-hander successfully mixed off-the-plate breaking balls with his fastball. He pitched backwards more than I’d seen and forced some bad swings. Ethridge deserved a better fate.
But it wasn’t to be, as Ole Miss was 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position and left 10 on base. Tyler Keenan had three hits, but Thomas Dillard and Cole Zabowski combined to go 0-for-8 with six strikeouts. The Rebels failed on two critical opportunities to get runners home from third with less than two outs, and Zack Hess completely turned the game for the Tigers.
After Ma’Khail Hilliard gave up back-to-back hits to begin the fifth with LSU up 3-1, it seemed Ole Miss had its opportunity. But Hess got a double play and a strikeout, and even though the Rebels cut it to on run, Hess overpowered Ole Miss with a mid 90s fastball and a slider that played against the Rebels’ aggressiveness. Hess allowed a solo shot to Cooper Johnson in the seventh but got Johnson with two outs and the bases loaded in the eighth. It was just a one-run game at the time before things blew up a half inning later.
Ole Miss is 30-17 and 13-9 in the SEC. LSU is 30-16 and 14-8. Arkansas leads the West at 16-6 and State is 14-8, as well. The Rebels have to finish at least 5-3 the rest of the way in the SEC to have a shot at hosting, in my opinion. This one was gettable, but Ole Miss wilted in major opportunities, and LSU came through with the swing plays that decided the game — much like a lot of games since 1982 at Alex Box Stadium.
Kessinger singled and walked to run his reached-base streak to 35 games.
