Coca-Cola Classic Day 3: Ole Miss versus USA

Today is Sunday which is a day of atonement. It is time for the Ole Miss Rebels to atone for their sins. The opponent: South Alabama. On Friday, South Alabama beat Mercer 9-2. On Saturday, the Liberty Flames beat South Alabama twice. Today, South Alabama coach Kittrel will look for his 1,000th win against our beloved Ole Miss Rebels.

The Rebels were horrible defensively last night, and we hope that they finally awaken from their slumber today. The reality is that we could go 1-2 against inferior teams this weekend, and maybe that is the wake-up call this team needs. Let's not get too far ahead of ourselves as the Rebels will take care of business today against USA.

I expect the Rebel faithful to come out in full force again today, and it is possible that we will outnumber the USA fans there. I believe there will be a huge crowd there today.

South Alabama had a draining game last night as they lost in extra innings. I'm not sure how their defense held up in the late game, but they committed 4 errors in the morning game against Liberty.

Philip Irwin will take the mound today, and he couldn't be any worse than what we saw yesterday. Irwin is riding a great amount of momentum from a great outing in the Miami Regional, and we need to get a solid 5 innings out of him today.

The question marks for today's game:

-What will the defense show us? Is the rust finally off?

-After a good outing on Friday and a bad one on Saturday, what can we expect from the bullpen?

-Will our offense stay hot?

-Will Philip Irwin give our starting pitching a quality outing? Can he be the redeemer for a struggling group?

Prediction:

Ole Miss 8
South Alabama 5