Ole Miss baseball loses lead late, continues SEC slide with loss to Texas A&M
Nine months ago is a long time and for the Ole Miss baseball team it might currently feel like two lifetimes have passed since winning its first national championship.
The jubilation, hugs, high fives and euphoria from Omaha are now replaced with bewilderment, hand wringing and head shaking.
After having a one-run lead over Texas A&M heading into the bottom of the 7th inning Ole Miss threw it away, literally, with a major collapse after a near 90-minute weather delay on Friday. The Aggies used a grand slam to overtake the Rebels on their way to a 8-6 lead to take the opening game of the weekend series in College Station.
A throwing error by third baseman Ethan Lege on a bunt attempt by the Aggies first batter out of the delay followed by a throwing error from pitcher Mitch Murrell the following batter were the two costly errors that doomed Ole Miss (15-10, 0-7 Southeastern Conference).
“Disappointing all around,” said Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco. “I told the guys we got to continue to fight. Continue to stay together. One of those, tonight was a tough one. They’re all tough, but tonight was a tough one.”
Bianco himself also shouldered the blame, noting he called a “bad pitch” to left fielder Jace LaViolette, who took that bad pitch and sent it over the right field wall for the back-breaking grand slam in the seventh.
The pitch was a fastball right down the middle to LaViolette.
For the first time in nearly 90 years Ole Miss opens up conference play losing its first seven games.
After a year of historic firsts in a positive manner Ole Miss has taken a complete 180-degree turn and scuffling worse than it did last season.
Friday looked to be a night where the Rebels were heading towards that course correction. Every time the Aggies answered Ole Miss had an answer at the plate or on the mound.
Starter Jack Dougherty did not have his best stuff but he grinded through six innings, giving up three runs off seven hits. He struck out three Aggie batters and walked another one.
Sitting at 93 pitches Dougherty was going to head back out for the seventh inning, but then the weather delay hit and ended his night.
“(Dougherty) was running out when the lightning struck,” Bianco said. “We thought we might could have gotten one more inning out of him. He was around 90-92 pitches if I remember correctly. He held his velocity in the sixth inning. He hit 95 on the gun and threw as hard as he threw throughout the game. He certainly would’ve went one more inning.”
Instead Murrell got the start after the lengthy delay but the night turned quickly for Ole Miss. The Rebels have had good luck with weather delays and even spotty turf, but the luck ran out on Friday.
What looked like a victory and the beginning of a season turning around ended with more of the same and a season still floundering.
The losses are mounting and the “tough” nights are continuing for an Ole Miss baseball team that was on top of the mountain less than a calendar year ago.
Time for looking in the mirror is now. Even if Hunter Elliott is able to return, that is only a strong arm for one night on the weekend. He cannot pitch all three games and all 27 innings. The rest of the pitching staff has to get better.
Experienced arms must find a way to turn the short outings into lengthy, inning-eating outings. The young arms, that are not as young as they were nearly two months ago, are going to have to mature and grow up faster than maybe reasonably expected.
As for the offense, the bats that were tearing through opposing pitching staffs at will just three weeks ago must find its confidence and swagger back. Yes, the competition on the mound is tougher than those non-conference games, but there is elite hitting in the lineup and the dugout.
Friday was a hard game to swallow, but if there is going to be a postseason of any kind this series in College Station cannot go by the wayside.
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