Ole Miss and Missouri start the weekend series at 6 p.m. today and continue at 4 p.m. tomorrow and 4 p.m. Sunday.
Game 1: LHP Hunter Elliott (4-0, 2.22 ERA) vs. LHP Ian Lohse (0-3, 7.15 ERA)
Game 2: RHP Riley Maddox (3-2, 4.03 ERA) vs. LHP Wil Libbert (1-2, 7.41 ERA)
Game 3: RHP Mason Nichols (1-0, 3.66 ERA) vs. TBA
Missouri, as well documented, is 8-11 on the season and is the one program in the league that doesn't have seven figures of baseball. The Tigers have a 10-0 loss to Penn State, a 10-2 loss to Alabama State and two lesses to Binghamton and two losses to Evansville. They lost all three in Baton Rouge to start league play, though it was a one-run game on Saturday Missouri should have won, and the Tigers were competitive for a bit on Friday. That's the danger; Missouri will win a series at some point this season, but Ole Miss, mathematically and logically, desperately needs at least two and three wouldn't be the worst thing. I just refuse to call 2 out of 3 on the road a failure -- even at Missouri.
This is pretty simple: play clean baseball. I know that's not sparkling analysis you pay for, but Ole Miss is better than Missouri and should win if it doesn't kick the ball around and just go silent for innings with quality at-bats. The wind is expected to be up in Columbia this weekend, and the Rebels can't get into a fly ball contest into the wind. Offensively, Ole Miss needs let's say fewer than 18 fly outs plus strikeouts. The recipe was bad against Southern Miss, and while the Rebels scored enough to win, they squandered chances against Arkansas.
Then, there's the question of who will bridge for Ole Miss in middle relief. I still fully believe in Mason Morris, but beyond that, Ole Miss has struggled to find consistency. I don't know if Mike Bianco was just minutes after a loss and annoyed, but he referenced some shakeup in the bullpen roles moving forward. Could Hudson Calhoun or someone earn an opportunity? Ole Miss thought it had a stable presence with Will McCausland, but it's been ineffective after the first appearance this season. Stretching the starters just isn't today's SEC baseball unless the pitch counts are very friendly, so Ole Miss has to have 2-3 options to get deep into the game without firing every bullet at once. I know Mike was trying to make sure he got one, but I thought last Friday was somewhat mismanaged considering score and situation.
I know RPI is still used with college baseball, but this DSR is the closest thing we have to try analytics -- think Ken Pom, etc. Ole Miss is in good shape with it. https://d1baseball.com/diamond-sports-ranking/
The record is what matters. This is a push to get to 13 SEC wins and then go from there. That number almost has to be at least three come Sunday evening.
Game 1: LHP Hunter Elliott (4-0, 2.22 ERA) vs. LHP Ian Lohse (0-3, 7.15 ERA)
Game 2: RHP Riley Maddox (3-2, 4.03 ERA) vs. LHP Wil Libbert (1-2, 7.41 ERA)
Game 3: RHP Mason Nichols (1-0, 3.66 ERA) vs. TBA
Missouri, as well documented, is 8-11 on the season and is the one program in the league that doesn't have seven figures of baseball. The Tigers have a 10-0 loss to Penn State, a 10-2 loss to Alabama State and two lesses to Binghamton and two losses to Evansville. They lost all three in Baton Rouge to start league play, though it was a one-run game on Saturday Missouri should have won, and the Tigers were competitive for a bit on Friday. That's the danger; Missouri will win a series at some point this season, but Ole Miss, mathematically and logically, desperately needs at least two and three wouldn't be the worst thing. I just refuse to call 2 out of 3 on the road a failure -- even at Missouri.
This is pretty simple: play clean baseball. I know that's not sparkling analysis you pay for, but Ole Miss is better than Missouri and should win if it doesn't kick the ball around and just go silent for innings with quality at-bats. The wind is expected to be up in Columbia this weekend, and the Rebels can't get into a fly ball contest into the wind. Offensively, Ole Miss needs let's say fewer than 18 fly outs plus strikeouts. The recipe was bad against Southern Miss, and while the Rebels scored enough to win, they squandered chances against Arkansas.
Then, there's the question of who will bridge for Ole Miss in middle relief. I still fully believe in Mason Morris, but beyond that, Ole Miss has struggled to find consistency. I don't know if Mike Bianco was just minutes after a loss and annoyed, but he referenced some shakeup in the bullpen roles moving forward. Could Hudson Calhoun or someone earn an opportunity? Ole Miss thought it had a stable presence with Will McCausland, but it's been ineffective after the first appearance this season. Stretching the starters just isn't today's SEC baseball unless the pitch counts are very friendly, so Ole Miss has to have 2-3 options to get deep into the game without firing every bullet at once. I know Mike was trying to make sure he got one, but I thought last Friday was somewhat mismanaged considering score and situation.
I know RPI is still used with college baseball, but this DSR is the closest thing we have to try analytics -- think Ken Pom, etc. Ole Miss is in good shape with it. https://d1baseball.com/diamond-sports-ranking/
The record is what matters. This is a push to get to 13 SEC wins and then go from there. That number almost has to be at least three come Sunday evening.
