Ole Miss fell to Auburn, 7-4, on Thursday, falling to 26-13 overall and 9-7 in the SEC. Auburn gets its 25th win of the season and is also 9-7 in the league. Game two is at 6 p.m. Friday. Doug Nikhazy gets the difficult assignment opposite Tanner Burns.
Here are some thoughts:
That was seven innings of poor baseball and a missed opportunity with Burns tomorrow and a left-hander Saturday on deck for the Tigers. Ole Miss led 4-1 after an inning and a half, running the starter and getting into a mostly right-handed bullpen, but missed chances and poor high-leverage at-bats defined the rest of the game.
Four of Ole Miss’ nine hits came in the first two innings, as the Rebels did a great job getting a lead with strung together at-bats and adding on thanks to Auburn miscues. It was the type of lead and situation that should be a comfortable win in the opening game of a series.
But instead Will Ethridge lost his rhythm multiple times, and Ole Miss squandered the chance to added on in the fourth inning. Anthony Serivdeo and Grae Kessinger, who at each had two hits, started the inning with singles, but Tyler Keenan hit into a double player, and Thomas Dillard struck out to end the inning.
From the sixth through the ninth innings, Cole Zabowski’s leadoff single (advanced to second on error) in the eighth inning was the only hit, and he was stranded after a ground out and two strikeouts. Ole Miss went in order in the sixth, seventh and ninth innings.
Ethridge gave up a double to start the game but retied six in a row after that to seemingly setting into the game. But armed with the three-run lead, he walked and hit a couple batters around a couple singles in the third inning that allowed two runs.
And after striking out the side in the fourth and having a decent fifth to strand a leadoff walk, he allowed the first two to reach in the sixth, ending his outing at that point. Tyler Myers allowed both inherited runners to score and then a couple of his own, giving Auburn full control of the game. The Tigers added single runs in the seventh and eighth for insurance.
Ethridge's stuff is dynamic. The breaking ball is plenty good enough, and he had some fastball run while topping at 94 or 95 MPH. But the command goes away at times and complicates things.
Simply put: Ole Miss wasn’t good enough offensively or on the mound. Auburn isn’t a high-powered offense, but the Rebels set the table with free passes and left some balls up and over the plate in key situations. The bullpen didn’t keep it within reach, and Ethridge has to lock down games like this if the Rebels are to be successful moving forward — especially in the pressure game of the series. This was an advantage game for Ole Miss.
And after running the starter and putting up four runs, the chase was there for knockout blows. But instead Ole Miss went 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position from the third inning on.
The Tigers committed three errors and were out-hit but still won the game by three runs after going 1-for-11 with two outs and 2-for-9 with runners in scoring position. That sums it up.
Doug Nikhazy gets a big opportunity tomorrow but it’s also another week of pressure on the freshman. In the two SEC games he’s started following an Ole Miss loss, he’s allowed a combined three runs in 13.2 innings, leading the Rebels to wins over Missouri and Arkansas. If Burns is on, he’ll need another excellent effort.
Ole Miss has gotten pull-happy as a lineup — other than Kessinger and usually Zabowski — and it’s leading to too many empty innings with roll-over ground balls and pop ups. That’s not an effective recipe unless they never miss fastballs. Tonight they missed fastballs. Last week against Kentucky it led to soft outs because of good offspeed location from the Wildcats. Right now this team is best with motion on the bases and hitting the baseball back up the middle unless it’s inside or hanging. Otherwise, quality pitchers can pitch around the big hit and get too many easy innings. Tomorrow is a huge day for Ole Miss, which has now lost three straight in the league following that six-game SEC win streak.
Here are some thoughts:
That was seven innings of poor baseball and a missed opportunity with Burns tomorrow and a left-hander Saturday on deck for the Tigers. Ole Miss led 4-1 after an inning and a half, running the starter and getting into a mostly right-handed bullpen, but missed chances and poor high-leverage at-bats defined the rest of the game.
Four of Ole Miss’ nine hits came in the first two innings, as the Rebels did a great job getting a lead with strung together at-bats and adding on thanks to Auburn miscues. It was the type of lead and situation that should be a comfortable win in the opening game of a series.
But instead Will Ethridge lost his rhythm multiple times, and Ole Miss squandered the chance to added on in the fourth inning. Anthony Serivdeo and Grae Kessinger, who at each had two hits, started the inning with singles, but Tyler Keenan hit into a double player, and Thomas Dillard struck out to end the inning.
From the sixth through the ninth innings, Cole Zabowski’s leadoff single (advanced to second on error) in the eighth inning was the only hit, and he was stranded after a ground out and two strikeouts. Ole Miss went in order in the sixth, seventh and ninth innings.
Ethridge gave up a double to start the game but retied six in a row after that to seemingly setting into the game. But armed with the three-run lead, he walked and hit a couple batters around a couple singles in the third inning that allowed two runs.
And after striking out the side in the fourth and having a decent fifth to strand a leadoff walk, he allowed the first two to reach in the sixth, ending his outing at that point. Tyler Myers allowed both inherited runners to score and then a couple of his own, giving Auburn full control of the game. The Tigers added single runs in the seventh and eighth for insurance.
Ethridge's stuff is dynamic. The breaking ball is plenty good enough, and he had some fastball run while topping at 94 or 95 MPH. But the command goes away at times and complicates things.
Simply put: Ole Miss wasn’t good enough offensively or on the mound. Auburn isn’t a high-powered offense, but the Rebels set the table with free passes and left some balls up and over the plate in key situations. The bullpen didn’t keep it within reach, and Ethridge has to lock down games like this if the Rebels are to be successful moving forward — especially in the pressure game of the series. This was an advantage game for Ole Miss.
And after running the starter and putting up four runs, the chase was there for knockout blows. But instead Ole Miss went 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position from the third inning on.
The Tigers committed three errors and were out-hit but still won the game by three runs after going 1-for-11 with two outs and 2-for-9 with runners in scoring position. That sums it up.
Doug Nikhazy gets a big opportunity tomorrow but it’s also another week of pressure on the freshman. In the two SEC games he’s started following an Ole Miss loss, he’s allowed a combined three runs in 13.2 innings, leading the Rebels to wins over Missouri and Arkansas. If Burns is on, he’ll need another excellent effort.
Ole Miss has gotten pull-happy as a lineup — other than Kessinger and usually Zabowski — and it’s leading to too many empty innings with roll-over ground balls and pop ups. That’s not an effective recipe unless they never miss fastballs. Tonight they missed fastballs. Last week against Kentucky it led to soft outs because of good offspeed location from the Wildcats. Right now this team is best with motion on the bases and hitting the baseball back up the middle unless it’s inside or hanging. Otherwise, quality pitchers can pitch around the big hit and get too many easy innings. Tomorrow is a huge day for Ole Miss, which has now lost three straight in the league following that six-game SEC win streak.
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