Series finale is at 1 p.m. today. If Ole Miss wins, it will be the first time since 1982 the Rebels have back-ended three SEC series in the same season.
Ole Miss would have lost to pretty much any team in the country in the opener yesterday. The game began with an error, and there were three wild pitches and a lot of missed spots on pitches in the first few innings. The game was over by the 10-2 score in the third, and State had a lot of momentum and was playing above its head because of what the Rebels allowed to happen. It was a good lesson about showing up flat and gifting opportunities to teams with less talent.
It wasn't effort, but it was probably focus, and then it was not controlling emotions and regrouping to stop the bleeding. Between his team's play and the crappy umpiring behind the plate, it's the hottest I've seen Mike Bianco in a while. Incredibly fiery, and I think he sent a pretty stern message between games.
With Feigl he missed some early spots, his team was terrible behind him, and State, to its credit, put some nice swings together. Ole Miss gave State confidence, and they squared up some of Feigl's good pitches. I hate to make too much of one-game sample sizes. Brady wasn't good, but it's hard to say that it being an opener had much to do with it. I'd need a couple more looks at that, and I'm not sure we're going to get them. Feigl has focused his entire career on getting the big pitch to end the big inning before it starts. Earlier in his career he didn't do that. This year for the most part he has done it. Yesterday he didn't, and his defense sucked. That's the bottom line.
On the other hand, while I think Ryan did benefit -- as every pitcher does -- from seeing the opponent swing first and going through the scouting report with Mike during the first game, his performance wasn't some eureka moment to justify or not justify the switch. You could argue there was more pressure on Ryan in game 2 than any game 1 this season and he delivered. Cold, rainy day where you can't feel the ball well and it's slipper. In-state rival just scored the same number of runs in one game as they had in 7 series openers so far in the season. He delivered. Credit to him. It was about command and toughness, not the day of the week or the series situation.
Ole Miss let Konnor Pilkington off the hook in innings two and three before the Bulldog onslaught. In the second inning a leadoff single was wasted, as Ole Miss only saw seven more pitches the rest of the inning. In the third inning, a one-out single was stranded after just three more pitches. I can't really analyze much after that considering the score. You'd like Holston to have gotten out of things better than three walks and three doubles in 2.1 innings, but I'm not going to make a deal of it.
One of the under-the-radar stories this season is freshman Max Cioffi. He hasn't been used in leverage situations, but he held State scoreless over 3.1 innings in game one and for the season hasn't allowed a run in 10 innings. I have a hunch you'll know him well next season and beyond.
In game two, Ole Miss really put pressure on Ethan Small and then JP France. The Bulldogs had to throw 176 pitches to get through seven innings. Small threw 104 pitches through four innings. By comparison, Rolison threw 104 pitches in seven innings. When you have the better bullpen it's huge to work counts and pitchers and get them out of there. That's the best I've seen from Ole Miss against a quality arm.
Nick Fortes was 5-for-9 in the two games and drove in or scored all the runs in game one. Ryan Olenek pushed his hitting streak to 10 games and has multi-hits in seven of the last eight. Chase Cockrell had two doubles in game two and smoked a couple others that the wind simply caught to left and center.
Thomas Dillard is 9-for-43 with an OPS of just over six in SEC play. His swing got long yesterday, and he has to maintain the sound approach in league games. When he does it, he's an incredibly difficult out, but it's not muscle memory yet. Things lengthened and got long and slow through the zone yesterday.
Olenek is hitting .463 in SEC play, and Cole Zabowski keeps having good at-bats. He's at .371 in league games.
SEC SCORES
Florida 22, Tennessee 6 (UF 1-0)
Vandy 8, UGA 3 (VU 2-1)
Mizzou 1, Bama 0
Bama 5, Missouri 1 (Bama 2-1)
Texas A&M 3, LSU 1 (TAMU 2-1)
Arkansas 13, Auburn 2 (AU 2-0)
South Carolina 15, Kentucky 1 (1-1)
Ole Miss would have lost to pretty much any team in the country in the opener yesterday. The game began with an error, and there were three wild pitches and a lot of missed spots on pitches in the first few innings. The game was over by the 10-2 score in the third, and State had a lot of momentum and was playing above its head because of what the Rebels allowed to happen. It was a good lesson about showing up flat and gifting opportunities to teams with less talent.
It wasn't effort, but it was probably focus, and then it was not controlling emotions and regrouping to stop the bleeding. Between his team's play and the crappy umpiring behind the plate, it's the hottest I've seen Mike Bianco in a while. Incredibly fiery, and I think he sent a pretty stern message between games.
With Feigl he missed some early spots, his team was terrible behind him, and State, to its credit, put some nice swings together. Ole Miss gave State confidence, and they squared up some of Feigl's good pitches. I hate to make too much of one-game sample sizes. Brady wasn't good, but it's hard to say that it being an opener had much to do with it. I'd need a couple more looks at that, and I'm not sure we're going to get them. Feigl has focused his entire career on getting the big pitch to end the big inning before it starts. Earlier in his career he didn't do that. This year for the most part he has done it. Yesterday he didn't, and his defense sucked. That's the bottom line.
On the other hand, while I think Ryan did benefit -- as every pitcher does -- from seeing the opponent swing first and going through the scouting report with Mike during the first game, his performance wasn't some eureka moment to justify or not justify the switch. You could argue there was more pressure on Ryan in game 2 than any game 1 this season and he delivered. Cold, rainy day where you can't feel the ball well and it's slipper. In-state rival just scored the same number of runs in one game as they had in 7 series openers so far in the season. He delivered. Credit to him. It was about command and toughness, not the day of the week or the series situation.
Ole Miss let Konnor Pilkington off the hook in innings two and three before the Bulldog onslaught. In the second inning a leadoff single was wasted, as Ole Miss only saw seven more pitches the rest of the inning. In the third inning, a one-out single was stranded after just three more pitches. I can't really analyze much after that considering the score. You'd like Holston to have gotten out of things better than three walks and three doubles in 2.1 innings, but I'm not going to make a deal of it.
One of the under-the-radar stories this season is freshman Max Cioffi. He hasn't been used in leverage situations, but he held State scoreless over 3.1 innings in game one and for the season hasn't allowed a run in 10 innings. I have a hunch you'll know him well next season and beyond.
In game two, Ole Miss really put pressure on Ethan Small and then JP France. The Bulldogs had to throw 176 pitches to get through seven innings. Small threw 104 pitches through four innings. By comparison, Rolison threw 104 pitches in seven innings. When you have the better bullpen it's huge to work counts and pitchers and get them out of there. That's the best I've seen from Ole Miss against a quality arm.
Nick Fortes was 5-for-9 in the two games and drove in or scored all the runs in game one. Ryan Olenek pushed his hitting streak to 10 games and has multi-hits in seven of the last eight. Chase Cockrell had two doubles in game two and smoked a couple others that the wind simply caught to left and center.
Thomas Dillard is 9-for-43 with an OPS of just over six in SEC play. His swing got long yesterday, and he has to maintain the sound approach in league games. When he does it, he's an incredibly difficult out, but it's not muscle memory yet. Things lengthened and got long and slow through the zone yesterday.
Olenek is hitting .463 in SEC play, and Cole Zabowski keeps having good at-bats. He's at .371 in league games.
SEC SCORES
Florida 22, Tennessee 6 (UF 1-0)
Vandy 8, UGA 3 (VU 2-1)
Mizzou 1, Bama 0
Bama 5, Missouri 1 (Bama 2-1)
Texas A&M 3, LSU 1 (TAMU 2-1)
Arkansas 13, Auburn 2 (AU 2-0)
South Carolina 15, Kentucky 1 (1-1)
