Ole Miss Baseball Advances in CWS: Sometimes You’re The Hammer, Sometimes You’re The Nail
The Rebels stay alive in the Omaha College World Series, eliminating Texas Tech 2-1 with bottom of the ninth heroics. Fifth-year senior John Gatlin comes off the bench and delivers the improbable clutch hit over six infielders awaiting a bunt that never came.
As the game unfolded, Tech chose to start a freshman Ryan Moseley who only had four starts on the season. It appeared Tech was content on pitching the pen against Ole Miss and holding their Saturday starter Dylan Dusek for a potential Thursday game.
There will be no Thursday game for the Red Raiders and Tech coach Tim Tadlock will have to think all off-season if Dusek would have made a difference.
Ole Miss head baseball coach Mike Bianco chose to throw his Saturday starter even though on paper this looked to be a matchup very much in Ole Miss’ favor. Of course we don’t play baseball games on paper and this turned into a pitcher’s dual that Ole Miss was fortunate to ‘eek out.
Bianco may be the most criticized coach in America; certainly, among the coaches still playing in Omaha. Every decision Bianco makes (or doesn’t make) is endlessly discussed and questioned among fans and rivals of the program.
While there are many reasons why this seems to be the case, one thing you have to realize as a fan is that coaches don’t have near the control that we, as fans, wish they had on the field.
It would be great if you could play “Money Ball,” play the percentages and your best hitters hit RBI’s and your best pitches get strikeouts.
But that is not always the case.
This week in Omaha, Bianco has had to get real creative. He has had to make some hard decisions, where maybe there was not a good decision.
Certainly, the loss to Virginia was a tough one and many felt like coaches’ choice to pitch to Virginia’s best hitter cost them the game.
Today, Bianco again made another questionable decision pinch hitting for JB Woodman with Colby Bortles and pulling Will Jamison for fifth-year senior John Gatlin, who was batting a cool .103 on the season.
The Colby Bortles call was a no-brainer, a freshman who has been on a tear over the last month as a pinch hitter, but the John Gatlin call; a right hander against a bullpen right hander Dominic Moreno was a shot in the dark honestly.
So many things happen in a game.
If Tech pitcher Cameron Smith doesn’t double pump to second base, Bortles would have been the first of an inning ending double play and Bianco wouldn’t have to make a decision at all.
As a manager, you can’t control everything. In my honest opinion you have to put your best guys out there (the best you have at the moment) and let the kids play.
That’s what this game is about. It’s about the players and putting them in the best position to be successful.
Thankfully for Bianco, he has guys like Holt Perdzock (who scored the first run of the game for OM at a pinch hitter) and Bortles and Gatlin just sitting around waiting for their turn to contribute. It’s not always about the obvious stars in the lineup. This team can and has won in the most unorthodox ways.
It may look like luck but it’s about getting pressure on the other team and letting the players decide who will win the game, and in most cases this year, Ole Miss has had the better players.
Bianco in postgame:
“Really proud of the way the guys responded. I’m really proud of their toughness and being able to respond when things don’t go their way. The guys were really composed going into the bottom of the ninth.”
On John Gatlin’s hit: “I like to see guys like Gatlin, that are great representatives of the University have success. Good things happen to good people.”
On starting pitcher Christian Trent who left after 7 innings with a 1-0 lead: “Trent has always been so good in our swing game (Saturday). He is still undefeated, and really hasn’t had a bad outing. Even when he hasn’t had his best stuff he doesn’t get beat. There is not a better Saturday pitcher in America than Trent.”