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Well, the last two weeks have been quite the struggle. Despite blowout victories in the midweek, the weekends have been cruel. Back-to-back series losses to Mississippi State and Vanderbilt on the road led to a longing for the friendly confines of Swayze Field and after a weird Friday night where the bats essentially disappeared, the boys were back in town in a big way.
Brady Feigl and James McArthur were both much better than last week and the offense came back in a big way in games one and two, helping the Rebs back-end yet another series and moving their record to 32-9 and 10-8 in the Southeastern Conference. Torch got his 7th win of the year and Tex tossed six innings of two-hit baseball and continued his undefeated streak (5-0) to help ensure a spot a top the SEC West.
The No. 11 good guys are now atop the West (tiebreaker with Arkansas) and sitting at No. 5 in the RPI. And after No. 3 Arkansas was swept in Starkville (thanks, y’all), No. 6 Kentucky dropped two-of-three to Florida, No. 9 Duke also dropped two-of-three, and Indiana doing battle with Ohio State for a series win, I expect the Rebs to climb back into the top 10. And despite the rankings not meaning much right now, the Rebs need to keep pace with everyone else in order to ensure a top eight national seed.
Just keep winning baby because even though the season is not over, the resume is very strong.
- 1st in the SEC West
- 2nd most wins in college baseball
- No. 5 RPI
- Series wins over No. 6, 8, and 14
- Midweek season sweep of No. 36 Southern Miss
- 22-1 non-conference record
- 11-0 midweek record
- 45th-ranked schedule
Frankly, this resume says Ole Miss is a top five team. Fight me.
Hey, Will Stokes is back.
The New Hope native has been up-and-down all season and virtually ineffective. But, that all changed on Saturday in game one. He came in and tossed 3.2 innings and struck out four in a big-time outing for him that will hopefully lead to many more productive outings out of a bullpen that has struggled as of late.
His fastball was much more lively this weekend, sitting in the low-90’s all three innings and sometimes touching 94, and he appeared to have his edge back. His first save of the year was a nice catapult for the team’s psyche going into game two and I think I speak for everyone when I say that we are glad to see Stoker back and throwing filth.
Will Golsan, I owe you an apology.
Despite some tough luck and hitting baseballs hard all year, I have been extra critical of our centerfielder this season. But after a solid weekend in Nashville against some Commodore pitching and now feasting on Bulldog pitching, he has flipped the script on me and anyone else who doubted him.
- He tripled his home run count on the day, hitting two in one game
- He is also now on a nine-game hitting streak
- And he set a new single-game career-high with five RBI in game two
Golsan is now hitting .288 overall and .299 in conference play. I doubted it but many told me the career .300 hitter would eventually come around and by God he has. The hits that weren’t falling earlier this year are now finding gaps and holes in the infield and he is driving in Nick Fortes, Thomas Dillard, and Cole Zabowski when they get on-base before him. This is a huge development for an offense that is already hitting .302 as a team and sports a ruthless lineup that has every single player hitting .272 or better.
Please don’t do dumb shit and ruin the atmosphere.
The right field student section is widely-known by most college baseball fans and the beer showers have become a tradition unlike any other that even Sportscenter has acknowledged is cool. But, Saturday there was at least one person who jeopardized it for the time being.
A couple idiots are putting #OleMiss in a bad spot here. If order isn’t maintained in regards to the opposing players, a great aspect of the stadium runs the risk of being completely shut down.
— Chase Parham (@RivalsChase) April 22, 2018
Look, I get it, it was just one game, but if this becomes a reoccurring thing, I could see not only Ross Bjork, but the SEC also stepping in and putting the clamps down.
A kid threw a beer in the bullpen. Georgia’s coach called and reported to Bianco. SEC was made aware, called Ross. Ross told em to clear the section....so here we are
— Mitch Tidwell (@mtidwell14) April 21, 2018
The good news is this may not be an issue much longer since after construction is done, the Ole Miss bullpen will be in right field once the new locker room and clubhouse are completed. But, still, c’mon y’all don’t be dumb and do dumb things. Right field is one of the cooler things in sports, regardless of the level of competition, and I along with everyone else would love to see it stay that way.