Ole Miss got to the all-important 17-win mark in the conference on Thursday night, beating Georgia, 2-0, behind another sensational effort from Doug Nikhazy.
The Rebels won their fifth straight game against the Bulldogs and moved to 37-16 overall and 17-11 in the SEC. Georgia is 29-22 (12-16). Ole Miss is ranked 14th in the RPI but note that Fairfield is No. 2 so everyone but Arkansas at No. 1 is theoretically one spot higher than listed.
Ole Miss remains third in the SEC West and after MSU’s win over Alabama but more importantly the Rebels move into a tie for fifth overall with Florida after Arkansas beat the Gators. It's a strange year when a team could win 19 league games and finish sixth in the SEC. The four seed remains a tough ask. Ole Miss would need to sweep Georgia and have Florida lose once more and either Mississippi State, Tennessee or Vanderbilt lose twice. Ole Miss would also win a three-way tie with Tennessee and Mississippi State.
I think this locks up a host site for Ole Miss. Obviously one more win would completely, 100 percent assure it, but I think the Rebels are there anyway. Even if Ole Miss lost out, that’s 17-14 in the SEC with three-top 10 neutral site Big 12 wins. Ole Miss has hosted every time it’s gotten to 17 conference wins in the regular season.
Here are notes and thoughts on the win.
I don’t know what else there is to say about Doug Nikhazy. He’s consistent and tough as nails and continues to power Ole Miss through these weekends, whether he has his best stuff or something short of that. I’m not sure there’s anyone else you’d want with the ball if you had to win a baseball game.
On Thursday, Nikhazy didn’t have his typical command and his pitch count went to hell quickly, but he still gave Ole Miss seven shutout innings with 13 strikeouts and just four hits and two walks. He threw 115 pitches, improving his efficiency in later innings to hang around. Nikhazy had an eight-pitch sixth inning and 12-pitch seventh inning. He had only one ground ball out but lowered his SEC ERA to 1.67 and SEC WHIP to 0.96. Georgia had runners on the corners with one out in the third, but Nikhazy got a strikeout and fly out before the Rebels took the lead a half inning later. Nikhazy was at 81 pitches through four innings.
He’s 7-1 in league play and the first Ole Miss pitcher since Chris Ellis in 2014 to win at least seven conference games. Nikhazy did it in just nine starts. He’d be my pick if I had a vote for SEC Pitcher of the Year. Frankly, any winner other than Nikhazy or Arkansas’ Kevin Kopps is criminal and evidence of public relations groupthink.
Taylor Broadway picked up his 11th save of the season with two scoreless innings. He allowed a double in the eighth and a leadoff walk in the ninth but worked out of both situations. He threw 32 pitches and is available again this weekend.
Ole Miss pitching held Georgia to 1-for-16 with runners on base and 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position. The Rebels were 4-for-16 and 2-for-11, respectively, in those categories.
TJ McCants reached base three times, and Kevin Graham was 1-for-2 with a walk and a sacrifice fly, but Ole Miss didn’t generate much offensively, though it didn’t matter thanks to Nikhazy. The 6-through-9 spots in the order went 1-for-14, with the one hit coming from Tim Elko. Ole Miss struck out 12 times, with five different Rebels striking out multiple times.
Justin Bench had a two-out RBI single in the fourth inning and Graham’s sacrifice fly came on a good piece of opposite-field hitting in the sixth inning. Graham has reached base in 46 straight games and 51 of 53 games this season.
Ole Miss got the first two batters on in the seventh before three straight strikeouts ended the inning. An inning later, three straight singles loaded the bases with no outs, but a baserunning gaffe turned into a double play. Ole Miss runs out of way too many innings with mistakes. Aggression is fine, but it can turn into blunders quickly.
The Rebels won their fifth straight game against the Bulldogs and moved to 37-16 overall and 17-11 in the SEC. Georgia is 29-22 (12-16). Ole Miss is ranked 14th in the RPI but note that Fairfield is No. 2 so everyone but Arkansas at No. 1 is theoretically one spot higher than listed.
Ole Miss remains third in the SEC West and after MSU’s win over Alabama but more importantly the Rebels move into a tie for fifth overall with Florida after Arkansas beat the Gators. It's a strange year when a team could win 19 league games and finish sixth in the SEC. The four seed remains a tough ask. Ole Miss would need to sweep Georgia and have Florida lose once more and either Mississippi State, Tennessee or Vanderbilt lose twice. Ole Miss would also win a three-way tie with Tennessee and Mississippi State.
I think this locks up a host site for Ole Miss. Obviously one more win would completely, 100 percent assure it, but I think the Rebels are there anyway. Even if Ole Miss lost out, that’s 17-14 in the SEC with three-top 10 neutral site Big 12 wins. Ole Miss has hosted every time it’s gotten to 17 conference wins in the regular season.
Here are notes and thoughts on the win.
I don’t know what else there is to say about Doug Nikhazy. He’s consistent and tough as nails and continues to power Ole Miss through these weekends, whether he has his best stuff or something short of that. I’m not sure there’s anyone else you’d want with the ball if you had to win a baseball game.
On Thursday, Nikhazy didn’t have his typical command and his pitch count went to hell quickly, but he still gave Ole Miss seven shutout innings with 13 strikeouts and just four hits and two walks. He threw 115 pitches, improving his efficiency in later innings to hang around. Nikhazy had an eight-pitch sixth inning and 12-pitch seventh inning. He had only one ground ball out but lowered his SEC ERA to 1.67 and SEC WHIP to 0.96. Georgia had runners on the corners with one out in the third, but Nikhazy got a strikeout and fly out before the Rebels took the lead a half inning later. Nikhazy was at 81 pitches through four innings.
He’s 7-1 in league play and the first Ole Miss pitcher since Chris Ellis in 2014 to win at least seven conference games. Nikhazy did it in just nine starts. He’d be my pick if I had a vote for SEC Pitcher of the Year. Frankly, any winner other than Nikhazy or Arkansas’ Kevin Kopps is criminal and evidence of public relations groupthink.
Taylor Broadway picked up his 11th save of the season with two scoreless innings. He allowed a double in the eighth and a leadoff walk in the ninth but worked out of both situations. He threw 32 pitches and is available again this weekend.
Ole Miss pitching held Georgia to 1-for-16 with runners on base and 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position. The Rebels were 4-for-16 and 2-for-11, respectively, in those categories.
TJ McCants reached base three times, and Kevin Graham was 1-for-2 with a walk and a sacrifice fly, but Ole Miss didn’t generate much offensively, though it didn’t matter thanks to Nikhazy. The 6-through-9 spots in the order went 1-for-14, with the one hit coming from Tim Elko. Ole Miss struck out 12 times, with five different Rebels striking out multiple times.
Justin Bench had a two-out RBI single in the fourth inning and Graham’s sacrifice fly came on a good piece of opposite-field hitting in the sixth inning. Graham has reached base in 46 straight games and 51 of 53 games this season.
Ole Miss got the first two batters on in the seventh before three straight strikeouts ended the inning. An inning later, three straight singles loaded the bases with no outs, but a baserunning gaffe turned into a double play. Ole Miss runs out of way too many innings with mistakes. Aggression is fine, but it can turn into blunders quickly.
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