Southern Miss knocked off Ole Miss, 10-7, on Tuesday in Pearl, dropping the Rebels to 19-9 overall before a three-game set with Alabama this weekend in Oxford. Southern Miss has won 7 of 8 and 10 of the last 12.
Ole Miss blew two different leads and lost its fourth nonconference game of the season.
Here are some observations.
There’s not a lot to say here. Ole Miss played really poor baseball and lost to a good but not great team. It was one of the Rebels’ worst defensive games of the season, as they committed three errors leading to one unearned run. It was just the one unearned run, but the defense impacted the game more than that. Mike Bianco said after the game the defense has to get better and how it’s the 28th game. He’s right, but the underlying factor in that is that this is the literal halfway point of the regular season, and it is what it is. Ole Miss doesn’t make the routine play often enough in the infield and has far too many throwing errors. We talk about the pitching constantly, but it’s the defense that’s been just as detrimental.
In saying that, the pitching let Ole Miss down on Tuesday. Derek Diamond didn’t get out of the third inning, giving up I’ve hits and three runs — two earned — in 2.2 innings. He struck out three. Jacob Gonzalez’s throwing error gave USM a run and extended the third inning. That was critical, as it would have gotten Diamond off the field and kept Ole Miss in the lead.
That was the first of two occasions where the Rebels didn’t get a very important shutdown inning, a stat that says a lot about teams. Hayden Dunhurst hit a three-run home run in the second, and the next half inning, the Rebels immediately gave those three runs back. In the seventh inning, Ole Miss scored four runs to get a 7-6 lead but gave up four in the next half inning. It’s the stat of the day. With the lead and the momentum in both instances, Ole Miss couldn’t minimize damage, get off the field and hit with a lead.
The offense wasn’t without fault. Ole Miss had one hit through five innings and two hits through six innings, finishing with six for the day. The seven runs should have been enough, so the scoreboard says the offense did its job, but it was all in two innings, and Ole Miss only had a runner in scoring position in three innings. Two two-out hits brought the tying run to the plate in the ninth. After a successful Sunday in Lexington where Ole Miss took pitches and let Kentucky provide charity and run up pitch counts, Tuesday looked like the bad days for the Rebels. Ole Miss walked six times, but those free passes didn’t spark any additional innings. Ole Miss was 4-for-9 with runners on base. Southern Miss was 8-for-23. Fourteen more chances with runners on for the opponent isn’t how you make a living.
Diamond has shown he’s able to get through a lineup once but the struggle a second time is becoming a pattern. Bianco has changed his role four different times so far this season and it seems like it’s time to use him to what may be the strength to his game right now — get through it once and then hand the ball to someone else, no matter if he seems to be in control.
Brandon Johnson had a rough outing, giving up three runs and getting only two outs to squander the lead in the eighth inning. He’s been great this season, so we’ll chalk it up to just a bad day. It’s better that it happened on Tuesday versus this past Friday. No pitcher had a great day. Josh Mallitz did get three fly outs in the scoreless ninth inning. Riley Maddox walked three of the 13 batters faced. The stuff is great, and Ole Miss has to have him right now, but he needs to clean that up.
Ole Miss is 15-4 in nonconference games so far this season with at least five remaining. There are two rainouts yet to be made up. No matter what the goal is, the Rebels need to take care of at least four of these next five and getting at least one made up against a non-300 RPI team would be nice. A trip to Hattiesburg and the Governor’s Cup are the toughest tests. Anything worse than 19-5 is a negative on Ole Miss’ resume unless the goal is to simply get in the NCAA Tournament.
Bianco said Ole Miss is "still learning on the mound." It was in response to not getting the shutdown innings. I'm not even sure exactly what it meant, but the quote stuck out.
Ole Miss hasn't announced a rotation for Alabama, but the pitchers used on Tuesday point toward the same as last week for the weekend.
Ole Miss blew two different leads and lost its fourth nonconference game of the season.
Here are some observations.
There’s not a lot to say here. Ole Miss played really poor baseball and lost to a good but not great team. It was one of the Rebels’ worst defensive games of the season, as they committed three errors leading to one unearned run. It was just the one unearned run, but the defense impacted the game more than that. Mike Bianco said after the game the defense has to get better and how it’s the 28th game. He’s right, but the underlying factor in that is that this is the literal halfway point of the regular season, and it is what it is. Ole Miss doesn’t make the routine play often enough in the infield and has far too many throwing errors. We talk about the pitching constantly, but it’s the defense that’s been just as detrimental.
In saying that, the pitching let Ole Miss down on Tuesday. Derek Diamond didn’t get out of the third inning, giving up I’ve hits and three runs — two earned — in 2.2 innings. He struck out three. Jacob Gonzalez’s throwing error gave USM a run and extended the third inning. That was critical, as it would have gotten Diamond off the field and kept Ole Miss in the lead.
That was the first of two occasions where the Rebels didn’t get a very important shutdown inning, a stat that says a lot about teams. Hayden Dunhurst hit a three-run home run in the second, and the next half inning, the Rebels immediately gave those three runs back. In the seventh inning, Ole Miss scored four runs to get a 7-6 lead but gave up four in the next half inning. It’s the stat of the day. With the lead and the momentum in both instances, Ole Miss couldn’t minimize damage, get off the field and hit with a lead.
The offense wasn’t without fault. Ole Miss had one hit through five innings and two hits through six innings, finishing with six for the day. The seven runs should have been enough, so the scoreboard says the offense did its job, but it was all in two innings, and Ole Miss only had a runner in scoring position in three innings. Two two-out hits brought the tying run to the plate in the ninth. After a successful Sunday in Lexington where Ole Miss took pitches and let Kentucky provide charity and run up pitch counts, Tuesday looked like the bad days for the Rebels. Ole Miss walked six times, but those free passes didn’t spark any additional innings. Ole Miss was 4-for-9 with runners on base. Southern Miss was 8-for-23. Fourteen more chances with runners on for the opponent isn’t how you make a living.
Diamond has shown he’s able to get through a lineup once but the struggle a second time is becoming a pattern. Bianco has changed his role four different times so far this season and it seems like it’s time to use him to what may be the strength to his game right now — get through it once and then hand the ball to someone else, no matter if he seems to be in control.
Brandon Johnson had a rough outing, giving up three runs and getting only two outs to squander the lead in the eighth inning. He’s been great this season, so we’ll chalk it up to just a bad day. It’s better that it happened on Tuesday versus this past Friday. No pitcher had a great day. Josh Mallitz did get three fly outs in the scoreless ninth inning. Riley Maddox walked three of the 13 batters faced. The stuff is great, and Ole Miss has to have him right now, but he needs to clean that up.
Ole Miss is 15-4 in nonconference games so far this season with at least five remaining. There are two rainouts yet to be made up. No matter what the goal is, the Rebels need to take care of at least four of these next five and getting at least one made up against a non-300 RPI team would be nice. A trip to Hattiesburg and the Governor’s Cup are the toughest tests. Anything worse than 19-5 is a negative on Ole Miss’ resume unless the goal is to simply get in the NCAA Tournament.
Bianco said Ole Miss is "still learning on the mound." It was in response to not getting the shutdown innings. I'm not even sure exactly what it meant, but the quote stuck out.
Ole Miss hasn't announced a rotation for Alabama, but the pitchers used on Tuesday point toward the same as last week for the weekend.
