Little late with this one. I was out of town over the weekend and had a lot going on Monday. Deal with it.
Last week: 5-0
Overall: 16-1
Rankings:
Baseball America: 6 (7 prev.)
USA Today Coaches Poll: 8 (15 prev.)
Perfect Game: 8 (12 prev.)
Results:
March 5-6: Southeastern Louisiana - W 2-0, W 6-2
March 8-10: Lipscomb - W 10-1, W 8-5, W 9-8
TUES Ole Miss 2, Southeastern Louisiana 0
Austin Anderson (1/3, 1 RBI, 1 HR) belted his first home run of the season and the Rebel pitching staff blanked SELA to give Ole Miss the win in a low-scoring midweek game. A Stuart Turner (1/4, 1 RBI) double, one of only five Rebel hits on the night, brought Tanner Mathis in to score in the fourth inning before Anderson's sixth inning blast extended the lead to 2-0. Josh Laxer (5.1 IP, 4 H, 0 R) picked up the win in a strong outing and Brett Huber (1 IP, 1 H, 0 R) racked up his fifth save of the season.
WED Ole Miss 6, Southeastern Louisiana 2
Ole Miss scored five runs in the first inning and stove off a late Lions threat to complete the midweek sweep. The Rebels used six first inning hits, highlighted by a Will Jamison (1/3, 1 RBI) double off of the right field wall, to build the early lead and a Turner (2/3, 2 RBI) RBI single in the fourth made it 6-0. After being held in check by Brady Bramlett (5 IP, 5 H, 1 R) through the first four frames, SELA managed to keep it interesting, adding runs in the fifth and sixth before threatening again in the ninth. With two outs and the bases loaded in a 6-2 ball game, Tanner Bailey struck out his first and only batter to preserve the Rebel win.
FRI Ole Miss 10, Lipscomb 1
Red-hot bats and a return to form from Bobby Wahl clinched an easy Friday night victory for the Diamond Rebs. After struggling in his last two outings, Wahl was solid through his six innings of work, allowing no runs, three hits and no walks. A pair of clutch two-out, bases-loaded singles from Preston Overbey (2/4, 4 RBI) in consecutive innings powered a fast Ole Miss start as they built a ten-run lead by the fourth. Auston Bousfield (3/5), Andrew Mistone (3/3, 3 RBI) and Turner (2/2, 2 RBI) also had big days at the plate.
SAT Ole Miss 8, Lipscomb 5
The Rebels withstood a furious charge from the Bisons to give Mike Bianco his 486th victory and make him the winningest head coach in Ole Miss baseball history. Riding a brilliant start by Mike Mayers (6 IP, 1 H, 0 R), Ole Miss took an 8-0 lead into the top of the seventh, but the game quickly turned after Mayers was lifted. Lipscomb pounded out five runs on five hits against Austin Blunt and Scott Weathersby to cut the lead to three before Aaron Greenwood (1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R) entered to stop the bleeding and get the Rebels out of the inning. After a perfect eighth, Greenwood handed the ball to Huber (1 IP, 1 H, 0 R), who overcame a no-outs, two-on jam to earn the save.
SUN Ole Miss 9, Lipscomb 8
Ole Miss rallied from four runs back pull out its fourth weekend weekend sweep of the year. Down 8-4 in the bottom of the seventh inning, the Rebels strung together seven singles as they charged back to take their first lead of the game. Will Allen's chopper through the left side scored Holt Perdzock for the go-ahead run. After scoring four runs in the top of the first, Lipscomb was in control most of the game. The Bisons hammered starter Sam Smith (4.1 IP, 9 H, 7 R), who gave up three home runs in the contest. After Matt Denny surrendered a fourth round-tripper in the sixth, Bailey entered in the seventh inning and held Lipscomb scoreless for the remainder of the game.
Numbers Game
- Austin Anderson is having very different seasons offensively and defensively. At the dish, he's batting .387 with 14 RBIs and has yet to strike out. In the field, the Rebel shortstop has already committed eight errors.
- Will Allen and Sikes Orvis, who many expected to provide much of the offensive firepower for the Rebels this year, are off to slow starts in 2013. Combined, they are slugging only .255 with one home run and 26 strikeouts.
- Stuart Turner has not only been productive at the plate, but behind it as well, gunning down 11 of 15 base stealers this season. That's good for tops in the SEC.
Links:
Conference standings
Season stats
Schedule
Past the Foul Pole
- Wednesday afternoon's game against SELA was the inaugural School Day, and the Racin' Solo Cups paid a visit to the hundreds of kids lucky enough to skip class and spend an afternoon at the ballpark. You gotta love the irony of three walking metaphors for underage drinking mingling with elementary students. Teach 'em young.
- On Friday night, a student in right field was fulfilling his Rebel duties by heckling Lipscomb's center fielder about his sister, Paige, when he was approached by a young co-ed. After an attempted kick to the groin, the girl announced that she was the aforementioned Paige.
Tweet of the Week
Yellow Cup didn't get much sleep last night. His thunder buddy wasn't here. We will see how that affects his performance today. #insiderinfo
— Rebel Solo Cup Races (@OMSoloCups) March 5, 2013
Racin' Solo Cups!
Season Tally:
Red: 7
Blue: 7
Yellow: 0
This Week:
March 12-13: at Louisiana-Monroe
March 15-17: at Arkansas