Tennessee finished off its sweep of Ole Miss on Sunday, holding off the Rebels, 4-3, as Ole Miss had the winning run on base in the ninth when the game ended. The Rebels are 3-6 in their last nine games and are now 16-7 overall and 2-4 in the SEC. It's a five-game week ahead with a home midweek against UNA on Tuesday and a makeup game at Memphis on Wednesday before a weekend in Lexington. Kentucky took two of three from Georgia this weekend.
Here are the things on my mind from the weekend and season to date.
The series sweep was Ole Miss' most lopsided three-game set since 2010. The negative-19 run differential is the worst for Ole Miss since Auburn swept the Rebels on the last weekend of the 2010 regular season. When Tennessee was up 4-0, I was linking this weekend all the way back to a series at South Carolina in 1997. What happened hasn't been a common occurrence for the Rebels, and it's a sign of how good Tennessee is and the obvious issues that Ole Miss had this weekend.
Casey Stengel and Joe Torre couldn't have evened up this series for Ole Miss, at least not on this particular weekend. Coaching didn't lose this series. But, hold on before you pop a blood vessel, it's not a defense of Mike Bianco. The roster issues were apparent, and if Tennessee was going to play like that, Ole Miss had to play its absolute best game to keep up. And it didn't. Instead, the issues that the Rebels are trying to work around picked up a magnifying glass, as I said on Friday. The Rebels are getting very little out of its sophomore and junior classes on the mound, and those prime years being void of difference making arms is a startling thing. That's a roster management and development issue. And roster management and development are the top jobs for a college staff. Arguably more important than recruiting.
No matter how this season ends up, the recipe for the program is the opposite of how it's shaken out with those two classes. To this point, and I stress to this point, but to this point the rotation is in the conversation with the 2011 rotation as far as least effective that I have covered. And this roster would kill for a Matt Crouse right now. Bianco has his work cut out to find a combination that can get anything accomplished. His options all have some problem that exists, but it's time to at least consider handing the ball to a freshman or two or moving Brandon Johnson. Neither of those options are necessarily ideal, but I think that's where things are currently. And it's not just about the Tennessee series. It's about how the bullpen is being asked to do so much and a suddenly inconsistent offense is playing a lot of catch up. Ole Miss has gotten 37 total outs during the past two weeks of game one and game two starts. That averages out to three innings per start on the first two days of the past two weekends. It's simply not good enough. Jack Dougherty and Diamond have done a good job the past two game threes, but the bullpen is already taxed by then.
Derek Diamond did a decent job today. Pitching did plenty for Ole Miss to win this baseball game on Sunday, and Diamond gave Ole Miss three zeroes early to try to get a lead, but it didn't happen. He gave up six hits and three runs in 4.2 innings. It was a good outing against that lineup. Ole Miss would have been happy with that going into the day, but it wasn't dominant. Bianco called Diamond's outing "terrific" and mentioned that he only gave up those three straight hits to the top of the order and that doesn't happen often. It was maybe a little coach speak, but I've been around him a long time, and terrific isn't a word he would ever use for that stat line. He's somewhat grading his rotation on a curve right now, and that's a sign of just where things are with the starting pitching. There's an inability to get moderately deep into games. On a side note, Johnson is getting better and pitching effectively and really taking a step. I like where he is with his progress. And Riley Maddox was very good today. The defense let him down or his line would be even better. It's time to give him a more defined role and see what the freshman can do. Maddox and Hunter Elliott were the best bullpen arms outside of Johnson. With the upperclassmen struggling, just see what's there and see if they sink or swim. It can't hurt.
It's easy to pile on the pitching because it's been the expected variable and the biggest issue all season, but the offense just didn't get anything done this weekend. Kevin Graham and Calvin Harris being out does impact the order, and their returns will make things better for Ole Miss. That's not debatable. But that's not the reason that Ole Miss struggled up and down the order. Sure, Tennessee has dominant starting pitching. And sometimes the other guys are just that good. But the Rebels are supposed to have an elite lineup, and until Hayden Dunhurst's home run in the eighth inning on Sunday, UT had more extra base hits than Ole Miss had total hits. The Rebels didn't walk or find ways to extend at-bats for the most part. It just wasn't competitive. Justin Bench had some nice at-bats, and I thought Hayden Leatherwood competed. But I didn't see much energy or leaders trying to jar something loose or shake things up. It was just listless for the majority of the weekend.
The stats from the weekend are all jarring. Ole Miss didn't score a run before the seventh inning all weekend, and every run scored was from a home run. Ole Miss struck out 40 times and walked twice. Peyton Chatagnier and Jacob Gonzalez combined to go 0-for-24. Chatagnier struck out eight times. Gonzalez was terrific against Auburn, and everyone has a bad weekend. It's also possible he pressed considering his history with Tennessee. I'll give him a pass. Chatagnier has gone 0-for-4 or 0-for-5 in eight of the last 16 games. He's last out of regulars with a .313 on-base percentage, and he's only walked six times. It's time to move him down in the order. Frankly, that is what's fair for him, as well. If it's not working, give him a different look than first or second in the order. Take some pressure off. Let what he gives you at the bottom be a bonus instead of a requirement. It's time to help him, and he may help Ole Miss in the process.
Ole Miss struggled against velocity more than I've maybe ever seen. And that's been the case at times this season. The approaches haven't been good at times, and teams can straight beat the Rebels with the fastball. That's not good enough, and Ole Miss has to be better.
Ole Miss' remaining schedule is as easy as it gets in the SEC. The trip to Fayetteville is tough, but the Rebels miss Georgia, Vanderbilt and Florida. And that's not to say it's going to be easy. Everyone has a pulse and can beat you. Ole Miss has never won a series in Columbia, Missouri, for example, but it's relatively soft and the easiest slate of anyone in the SEC. Point being, Ole Miss can manage this thing and get enough wins if it plays well But it has to play well. It has to show some confidence and feed off each other instead of the inverse. And it has to figure out the best path for the rotation and the lineup and make enough waves until Graham comes back.
At Kentucky, Alabama, at South Carolina close the front half. Kentucky just beat UGA and has a series win over TCU. Alabama isn't good and blew two games against MSU it should have won, and the Tide showed well at Texas earlier in the season, relatively speaking, despite getting swept. South Carolina has series wins over Texas and Vanderbilt. Point being, there's no coast weekend. If Ole Miss plays well, it wins the next three weekends. But it has to play well. Don't and we're having an entirely different conversation. The Rebels blew an opportunity this weekend. Not just in the losses but the way they played in front of sold out crowds. The crowd and fan base kept waiting for any spark or sign that there was life and it took 26 innings. I'm not sure what that says, but we'll find out more over the next several weeks. I think Tennessee is the best team in the country. Ole Miss needs to hope that's the case. I'm not going to be a polyanna and make much out of the last couple innings today. Bianco said he reminded his team there are no moral victories. But I assume the fight back in the eighth and ninth at least had to help a little. In some ways it showed just how dead Swayze had been the rest of the time. It woke up and the contrast was so obvious. There was some pride in there, and that was notable. But it only means something if things turn around this week.
Here are the things on my mind from the weekend and season to date.
The series sweep was Ole Miss' most lopsided three-game set since 2010. The negative-19 run differential is the worst for Ole Miss since Auburn swept the Rebels on the last weekend of the 2010 regular season. When Tennessee was up 4-0, I was linking this weekend all the way back to a series at South Carolina in 1997. What happened hasn't been a common occurrence for the Rebels, and it's a sign of how good Tennessee is and the obvious issues that Ole Miss had this weekend.
Casey Stengel and Joe Torre couldn't have evened up this series for Ole Miss, at least not on this particular weekend. Coaching didn't lose this series. But, hold on before you pop a blood vessel, it's not a defense of Mike Bianco. The roster issues were apparent, and if Tennessee was going to play like that, Ole Miss had to play its absolute best game to keep up. And it didn't. Instead, the issues that the Rebels are trying to work around picked up a magnifying glass, as I said on Friday. The Rebels are getting very little out of its sophomore and junior classes on the mound, and those prime years being void of difference making arms is a startling thing. That's a roster management and development issue. And roster management and development are the top jobs for a college staff. Arguably more important than recruiting.
No matter how this season ends up, the recipe for the program is the opposite of how it's shaken out with those two classes. To this point, and I stress to this point, but to this point the rotation is in the conversation with the 2011 rotation as far as least effective that I have covered. And this roster would kill for a Matt Crouse right now. Bianco has his work cut out to find a combination that can get anything accomplished. His options all have some problem that exists, but it's time to at least consider handing the ball to a freshman or two or moving Brandon Johnson. Neither of those options are necessarily ideal, but I think that's where things are currently. And it's not just about the Tennessee series. It's about how the bullpen is being asked to do so much and a suddenly inconsistent offense is playing a lot of catch up. Ole Miss has gotten 37 total outs during the past two weeks of game one and game two starts. That averages out to three innings per start on the first two days of the past two weekends. It's simply not good enough. Jack Dougherty and Diamond have done a good job the past two game threes, but the bullpen is already taxed by then.
Derek Diamond did a decent job today. Pitching did plenty for Ole Miss to win this baseball game on Sunday, and Diamond gave Ole Miss three zeroes early to try to get a lead, but it didn't happen. He gave up six hits and three runs in 4.2 innings. It was a good outing against that lineup. Ole Miss would have been happy with that going into the day, but it wasn't dominant. Bianco called Diamond's outing "terrific" and mentioned that he only gave up those three straight hits to the top of the order and that doesn't happen often. It was maybe a little coach speak, but I've been around him a long time, and terrific isn't a word he would ever use for that stat line. He's somewhat grading his rotation on a curve right now, and that's a sign of just where things are with the starting pitching. There's an inability to get moderately deep into games. On a side note, Johnson is getting better and pitching effectively and really taking a step. I like where he is with his progress. And Riley Maddox was very good today. The defense let him down or his line would be even better. It's time to give him a more defined role and see what the freshman can do. Maddox and Hunter Elliott were the best bullpen arms outside of Johnson. With the upperclassmen struggling, just see what's there and see if they sink or swim. It can't hurt.
It's easy to pile on the pitching because it's been the expected variable and the biggest issue all season, but the offense just didn't get anything done this weekend. Kevin Graham and Calvin Harris being out does impact the order, and their returns will make things better for Ole Miss. That's not debatable. But that's not the reason that Ole Miss struggled up and down the order. Sure, Tennessee has dominant starting pitching. And sometimes the other guys are just that good. But the Rebels are supposed to have an elite lineup, and until Hayden Dunhurst's home run in the eighth inning on Sunday, UT had more extra base hits than Ole Miss had total hits. The Rebels didn't walk or find ways to extend at-bats for the most part. It just wasn't competitive. Justin Bench had some nice at-bats, and I thought Hayden Leatherwood competed. But I didn't see much energy or leaders trying to jar something loose or shake things up. It was just listless for the majority of the weekend.
The stats from the weekend are all jarring. Ole Miss didn't score a run before the seventh inning all weekend, and every run scored was from a home run. Ole Miss struck out 40 times and walked twice. Peyton Chatagnier and Jacob Gonzalez combined to go 0-for-24. Chatagnier struck out eight times. Gonzalez was terrific against Auburn, and everyone has a bad weekend. It's also possible he pressed considering his history with Tennessee. I'll give him a pass. Chatagnier has gone 0-for-4 or 0-for-5 in eight of the last 16 games. He's last out of regulars with a .313 on-base percentage, and he's only walked six times. It's time to move him down in the order. Frankly, that is what's fair for him, as well. If it's not working, give him a different look than first or second in the order. Take some pressure off. Let what he gives you at the bottom be a bonus instead of a requirement. It's time to help him, and he may help Ole Miss in the process.
Ole Miss struggled against velocity more than I've maybe ever seen. And that's been the case at times this season. The approaches haven't been good at times, and teams can straight beat the Rebels with the fastball. That's not good enough, and Ole Miss has to be better.
Ole Miss' remaining schedule is as easy as it gets in the SEC. The trip to Fayetteville is tough, but the Rebels miss Georgia, Vanderbilt and Florida. And that's not to say it's going to be easy. Everyone has a pulse and can beat you. Ole Miss has never won a series in Columbia, Missouri, for example, but it's relatively soft and the easiest slate of anyone in the SEC. Point being, Ole Miss can manage this thing and get enough wins if it plays well But it has to play well. It has to show some confidence and feed off each other instead of the inverse. And it has to figure out the best path for the rotation and the lineup and make enough waves until Graham comes back.
At Kentucky, Alabama, at South Carolina close the front half. Kentucky just beat UGA and has a series win over TCU. Alabama isn't good and blew two games against MSU it should have won, and the Tide showed well at Texas earlier in the season, relatively speaking, despite getting swept. South Carolina has series wins over Texas and Vanderbilt. Point being, there's no coast weekend. If Ole Miss plays well, it wins the next three weekends. But it has to play well. Don't and we're having an entirely different conversation. The Rebels blew an opportunity this weekend. Not just in the losses but the way they played in front of sold out crowds. The crowd and fan base kept waiting for any spark or sign that there was life and it took 26 innings. I'm not sure what that says, but we'll find out more over the next several weeks. I think Tennessee is the best team in the country. Ole Miss needs to hope that's the case. I'm not going to be a polyanna and make much out of the last couple innings today. Bianco said he reminded his team there are no moral victories. But I assume the fight back in the eighth and ninth at least had to help a little. In some ways it showed just how dead Swayze had been the rest of the time. It woke up and the contrast was so obvious. There was some pride in there, and that was notable. But it only means something if things turn around this week.
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