Ole Miss dominated Carolina, 5-1, on Friday, shutting down the Gamecocks the entire game and doing enough offensively early to allow the Rebels to cruise to the series-opening win for the first time in five weeks.
On the other side, South Carolina is 1-7 in the last eight series openers. Ole Miss is now 29-12 overall and 11-8 in the SEC and can clinch the series with a win during the doubleheader Saturday that starts at 1:30 p.m. The Gamecocks are 26-13, 11-8.
Here are thoughts, notes and observations from the Ole Miss win.
This was all about Gunnar Hoglund. After missing the start against LSU last week with a stiff bicep, Hoglund handled Carolina, giving up one hit with nine strikeouts and no walks in six innings. He threw an incredible 57 strikes out of 73 pitches Hoglund retired the final 15 he faced, only allowing a leadoff single in the second inning out of the 19 batters faced.
It was an early exit, but Hoglund nor head coach Mike Bianco seemed concerned about the quick hook. Hoglund’s velocity dipped during the sixth inning, leading to his exit.
“He felt terrific throughout the game,” Bianco said. “Sometimes when that adrenaline wears off, you hit a wall. He still looked good. He had command but velocity ticked down a touch, so we got him out of there.”
Hoglund dominated South Carolina with the fastball for the majority of the appearance. He painted it wherever he wanted and only had one three-ball count all night. Once the slider showed up, Hoglund was unhittable. He showed zero signs of rust or issue until that sixth, and even then he kept the ball in the field, picked up a strikeout and threw only nine pitches for the three outs. He wanted to stay in for the seventh inning.
“We were kind of just feeling it out,” Hoglund said. “We didn’t have a pitch count. It was just a fatigue thing. I feel good.”
Derek Diamond followed Hoglund and shook off a home run on a pretty good pitch that may have gotten a touch too much of the plate. He struck out five of the next six he faced.
Taylor Broadway struck out the side with 11 strikes in 15 pitches during the ninth inning.
All three pitchers worked off their fastballs and showed that Carolina was overmatched against velocity that stayed away from the middle of the plate. The stats are fairly eye-popping. The Rebels struck out 17 Gamecocks with only one walk, and Carolina never threatened.
USC was 0-for-9 with two outs, 0-for-4 with runners on base and never had a runner in scoring position. Ole Miss was only 4-for-19 with runners on, but the Rebels built a 5-0 lead by the fourth inning.
With a four-run lead, I would have been tempted to leave Diamond out for the ninth inning and completely save Broadway for the Saturday doubleheader. I asked Bianco who said he didn’t want Broadway to enter the game with men on base and that he would have left Diamond in had Ole Miss added on to the score in the eighth inning.
That assumes Diamond was going to allow a runner. He was as sharp as last week against LSU and again controlled his emotions well after early adversity. It’s possible he’s turned a corner for Ole Miss.
Kevin Graham, TJ McCants and Hayden Leatherwood each two hits. The Rebels had some nice at-bats that died into a difficult night for offensive baseball or were run down in the outfield. Ole Miss took advantage of Carolina kicking the ball around — a welcome sight for the Rebels considering their charity in recent weekends.
Ole Miss was clean defensively and played well in all phases. The Rebels won’t be great defensively, but they just need to catch the baseball and make the expected plays. They did that on Friday.
The early runs seemed to free up Hoglund a little bit. He's been pitching in high-stress situations for most of the season.
Leatherwood said he has no lingering effects from the collision with McCants last week.
Tim Elko is on the active 30-man roster for the weekend. Bianco said Elko can pinch hit if needed but still is struggling to run beyond a jog. He tore his ACL on April 5.
On the other side, South Carolina is 1-7 in the last eight series openers. Ole Miss is now 29-12 overall and 11-8 in the SEC and can clinch the series with a win during the doubleheader Saturday that starts at 1:30 p.m. The Gamecocks are 26-13, 11-8.
Here are thoughts, notes and observations from the Ole Miss win.
This was all about Gunnar Hoglund. After missing the start against LSU last week with a stiff bicep, Hoglund handled Carolina, giving up one hit with nine strikeouts and no walks in six innings. He threw an incredible 57 strikes out of 73 pitches Hoglund retired the final 15 he faced, only allowing a leadoff single in the second inning out of the 19 batters faced.
It was an early exit, but Hoglund nor head coach Mike Bianco seemed concerned about the quick hook. Hoglund’s velocity dipped during the sixth inning, leading to his exit.
“He felt terrific throughout the game,” Bianco said. “Sometimes when that adrenaline wears off, you hit a wall. He still looked good. He had command but velocity ticked down a touch, so we got him out of there.”
Hoglund dominated South Carolina with the fastball for the majority of the appearance. He painted it wherever he wanted and only had one three-ball count all night. Once the slider showed up, Hoglund was unhittable. He showed zero signs of rust or issue until that sixth, and even then he kept the ball in the field, picked up a strikeout and threw only nine pitches for the three outs. He wanted to stay in for the seventh inning.
“We were kind of just feeling it out,” Hoglund said. “We didn’t have a pitch count. It was just a fatigue thing. I feel good.”
Derek Diamond followed Hoglund and shook off a home run on a pretty good pitch that may have gotten a touch too much of the plate. He struck out five of the next six he faced.
Taylor Broadway struck out the side with 11 strikes in 15 pitches during the ninth inning.
All three pitchers worked off their fastballs and showed that Carolina was overmatched against velocity that stayed away from the middle of the plate. The stats are fairly eye-popping. The Rebels struck out 17 Gamecocks with only one walk, and Carolina never threatened.
USC was 0-for-9 with two outs, 0-for-4 with runners on base and never had a runner in scoring position. Ole Miss was only 4-for-19 with runners on, but the Rebels built a 5-0 lead by the fourth inning.
With a four-run lead, I would have been tempted to leave Diamond out for the ninth inning and completely save Broadway for the Saturday doubleheader. I asked Bianco who said he didn’t want Broadway to enter the game with men on base and that he would have left Diamond in had Ole Miss added on to the score in the eighth inning.
That assumes Diamond was going to allow a runner. He was as sharp as last week against LSU and again controlled his emotions well after early adversity. It’s possible he’s turned a corner for Ole Miss.
Kevin Graham, TJ McCants and Hayden Leatherwood each two hits. The Rebels had some nice at-bats that died into a difficult night for offensive baseball or were run down in the outfield. Ole Miss took advantage of Carolina kicking the ball around — a welcome sight for the Rebels considering their charity in recent weekends.
Ole Miss was clean defensively and played well in all phases. The Rebels won’t be great defensively, but they just need to catch the baseball and make the expected plays. They did that on Friday.
The early runs seemed to free up Hoglund a little bit. He's been pitching in high-stress situations for most of the season.
Leatherwood said he has no lingering effects from the collision with McCants last week.
Tim Elko is on the active 30-man roster for the weekend. Bianco said Elko can pinch hit if needed but still is struggling to run beyond a jog. He tore his ACL on April 5.
