THE GOOD
I could probably go on and on after a game like that, but Ole Miss beats Georgia State, 16-2, to move to 17-1 on the season. The Rebels are off to the third best start in school history behind 2004 (18-1) and 2013 (19-1). Oddly, neither of those teams won a regional and the 2013 team didn't even host.
I talked last night about the driving over day of game and environment, and I think Mike Bianco wanted to put them in a weird spot and challenge them outside of the usual SEC amenities. Last night was the flattest I've seen them play all season, but today was complete domination. The focus was there and the Rebels hammered the first five Georgia State pitchers for 16 runs and 14 hits in eight innings. I like the mental toughness of this group more than anything else. Even with the bad days they fight for nine innings. Then you get a game like this where the other team is overmatched.
Cole Zabowski is a confidence hitter. He rides the positives and negatives and this is a nice game to head into conference play. Three hits. Four RBIs. He's also surpassed his RBI total and tied his runs total from last season.
Chase Cockrell had just one hit but it was the 2-strike, 2-out double in the first that frankly blew this open from the beginning. He was fooled by two changeups and then they threw him a fastball. Great piece of hitting, but he has to identify the offspeed better.
Jordan Fowler with 5 innings of one-hit, no-run pitching. He's allowed one run in 13.1 innings to start his college career. He was a little more hittable today, giving up seven fly balls, but he threw strikes and gave nothing away free. That'll win games.
Congrats to Tim Elko on his first career home run. Ole Miss may have to figure something out to get both him and Tyler Keenan in the lineup at some point.
Ole Miss had nine two-out RBIs and held Georgia State to 1-for-10 with runners on base.
THE BAD
It wasn't the two best games for Anthony Servideo. He was pulled after getting out of the way of a ball in the field last night and he went 0-for-5 with three strikeouts today. He was hitting .211 prior to the midweek series, and while I think he has the potential to be a plus defender, it feels like Jacob Adams has the edge at second base entering conference play.
This is nitpicking but Connor Green threw 14 strikes and 10 balls in his two innings with a walk. I don't think Bianco trusts him in any type of key situation, and command has always been the question mark. Considering the success of the main staff members he probably needs some completely blemish-free outings to raise his standing.
Ole Miss left 11 men on base. And that wasn't a big deal. It was 16-2, I'm reaching in this part.
I could probably go on and on after a game like that, but Ole Miss beats Georgia State, 16-2, to move to 17-1 on the season. The Rebels are off to the third best start in school history behind 2004 (18-1) and 2013 (19-1). Oddly, neither of those teams won a regional and the 2013 team didn't even host.
I talked last night about the driving over day of game and environment, and I think Mike Bianco wanted to put them in a weird spot and challenge them outside of the usual SEC amenities. Last night was the flattest I've seen them play all season, but today was complete domination. The focus was there and the Rebels hammered the first five Georgia State pitchers for 16 runs and 14 hits in eight innings. I like the mental toughness of this group more than anything else. Even with the bad days they fight for nine innings. Then you get a game like this where the other team is overmatched.
Cole Zabowski is a confidence hitter. He rides the positives and negatives and this is a nice game to head into conference play. Three hits. Four RBIs. He's also surpassed his RBI total and tied his runs total from last season.
Chase Cockrell had just one hit but it was the 2-strike, 2-out double in the first that frankly blew this open from the beginning. He was fooled by two changeups and then they threw him a fastball. Great piece of hitting, but he has to identify the offspeed better.
Jordan Fowler with 5 innings of one-hit, no-run pitching. He's allowed one run in 13.1 innings to start his college career. He was a little more hittable today, giving up seven fly balls, but he threw strikes and gave nothing away free. That'll win games.
Congrats to Tim Elko on his first career home run. Ole Miss may have to figure something out to get both him and Tyler Keenan in the lineup at some point.
Ole Miss had nine two-out RBIs and held Georgia State to 1-for-10 with runners on base.
THE BAD
It wasn't the two best games for Anthony Servideo. He was pulled after getting out of the way of a ball in the field last night and he went 0-for-5 with three strikeouts today. He was hitting .211 prior to the midweek series, and while I think he has the potential to be a plus defender, it feels like Jacob Adams has the edge at second base entering conference play.
This is nitpicking but Connor Green threw 14 strikes and 10 balls in his two innings with a walk. I don't think Bianco trusts him in any type of key situation, and command has always been the question mark. Considering the success of the main staff members he probably needs some completely blemish-free outings to raise his standing.
Ole Miss left 11 men on base. And that wasn't a big deal. It was 16-2, I'm reaching in this part.
