It was a rough weekend for Ole Miss Baseball as the Gamecocks took the series in Oxford. However, Bittler and Morgan combined to prevent the sweep..
Bittle allowed one run on for hits in six innings pitched and had 7 strikeouts. Morgan entered in the seventh and retired the next nine batters to get the save. The Rebels improve to 25-10 overall and 9-6 in the conference.
Instead of dwelling on the tough weekend, I will outline what we have to do to earn a regional. Later on this week, One Man to Beat and I will give you a mid-SEC-season report.
Non-Conference
The Rebels have one game with Mississippi State, two with Southern Miss, one game with Arkansas-Little Rock, and one more with Arkansas Pine Bluff. I think that we must win both games with Arkansas directional schools, beat State and split with Southern Miss. Therefore, 4-1 in remaining non-conference which would carry us to 20-5 in non conference.
Conference
With series at Florida (9-6 SEC), Georgia (11-4), at Auburn (7-8), Mississippi State (5-10), and at Arkansas (10-4) coming up, the Rebels have a tough slate ahead. It would be hard to go series for series with predictions, but I think we need to go 9-6 in the second half of SEC play to host. That would put us at 18-12 in SEC play, and counting my predicted non conference, would bring us to 38-17 overall. We would then hopefully win at least two in the SEC Tournament, which would surely make us a regional host.
If you think we would host at 17 SEC wins, you may be correct. What I forsee is Arkansas, Georgia, and LSU as hosts from the SEC. Then, Florida and Ole Miss would be competing for the fourth host spot from the SEC. Our series this weekend will mean a lot, and our weak RPI needs 18 SEC wins to boost the resume.
It all starts when Buk take the mound against State on Tuesday at Trustmark Park in Pearl. We can do this, Rebs.