The brooms are out again as The Rebels sweep Wright State and continue to round into form

The Rebs are hot. The brooms were brought out again this weekend against Wright State Raiders, as Ole Miss cruised to three easy victories with a combined score of 24-7. They have now rattled off nine wins in a row and have just six non-conference games left before we hit SEC play. 

This was supposed to be a five-game week for the Rebs, and I was excited to see an extra midweek game to work in some depth bats further as we get closer to solidifying a more regular starting nine and digging deeper into this bullpen. Unfortunately, the match-up against South Eastern Louisiana has been canceled due to weather. 

Friday played out very similar to last week, with Hunter Elliott being good once again. Making it through five innings, striking out seven and only allowing one hit. He did walk 5, which is a high number that you would like to see him bring down a little. Additionally, Cade Townsend made his second career appearance, which was much better than his first outing, throwing two scoreless innings and striking out three without allowing a hit. His stuff is there, but he suffers from control issues at times. I expect his role on this team to continue to increase over the year. 

We saw Hayden Federico do what he does, and that is to get base hits. He went 2 for 3 and also walked twice. Ryan Moerman continues to be the best transfer out of this crop and went 3 for 5 on Friday, driving in 3 runs. Mitchell Sanford also continued a hot run, driving in two runs in this one. 

Saturday saw Riley Maddox turn in what I think was his best start of the season so far, throwing five scoreless and only allowing two hits. Ryne Rodriquez, Landon Waters, Sam Tookoian, and Gunnar Dennis all turned in solid innings. All 4 of those guys are not high-leverage pitchers and just speak to the depth of this staff. 

Moerman continued the hot bat, going 2 for 4 with 2 RBIs and two runs. Issac Humphrey got two hits in this one, which was nice to see, and Judd Utermark went 2 for 4 with 2 RBIs. 

Mason Nichols was really good on Sunday; he was just one bad pitch, which ended up being a three-run home run away from being near perfect. He set a career-high in strikeouts with 10, and while I’ve argued I don’t think Nichols is best in a starter role, he is certainly not a bad option to anchor the Sunday slot for one of the country's deepest pitching staffs. Mason Morris has three nearly perfect innings as he continues a blistering start to the year, followed by great innings thrown by Brayden Jones and Connor Spencer. That trio, along with Walker Hooks, are probably the best 4 bullpen arms for this team. 

Top Performers

Hayden Federico Went 4 for 11 this weekend, which is mighty pedestrian for what he has been doing this season, but he has clearly locked up an everyday spot in the lineup and the lead-off role. He still is hitting over .450 and leads the team in OBP at a little over .600.

Luke Hill went 4 for 9 this season and walked once every game. He has been the leader of this team and probably the best player so far. 

Uttermark returned in a big way this weekend after struggling against EKU. He hit 5 for 11 with two home runs and 5 RBIs. He still struck out a lot. But if he provides that kind of power, you can live with it. Judd now has a team-high five home runs.

Ryan Moerman went 6 for 14 with 5 RBIs. He is a guy who has to be penciled in either the 3 or 4 hole every game, either in a corner outfield spot or DH. He leads the team in slugging percentage at .762

Of Note

Smithwick looks completely lost at the plate, and he seems to be losing his grip on the starting catcher position to Austin Fawley. Smithwick played in 2 games this weekend, catching one; he went 1 for 8 with five strikeouts. He is improved defensively, but overall, Fawley is the better catcher, plus the at-bats and swings from Smithwick are really bad right now.

Cheng is a scrappy ball player and is a personal favorite of mine. He only has one hit so far this year, but he has gotten on-base over half of his at-bats, which is remarkable without getting hits. He provides a very steadying presence at the bottom of the lineup, always putting together quality at-bats and making the pitcher earn it before turning it over to the top. He also has a great glove at short and turned in a total web gem on Sunday.

The Rebs are back at it this week, now just against Murray State on Wednesday night before Jacksonville State rolls into Oxford for a weekend series. The Rebels will sport a higher ranking in all three major polls this week, with the highest ranking being #17 in the D1 Baseball poll.