The Ole Miss Rebels entered Founders Park last Thursday with a golden opportunity to put themselves in an excellent position to host a regional in Swayze. They were fresh off a heartbreaking and tough series loss to the Tennessee Volunteers the Sunday before. However, the Gamecocks provided a great chance to get back into the series win column and the potential for a sweep.
Entering this series, South Carolina was the 2nd to worst team in the conference, having only won two SEC games up to that point and having yet to win a series. That would change incredibly quickly as the Ole Miss offense would allow the Gamecocks to win the first two games of the series while only using their three pitcher. The South Carolina pitching staff had easily been the 15th-ranked team in the league, pitching better than the historically bad Missouri team. You wouldn't have known it watching the Rebels.
In just 86 pitches, South Carolina starter Brandon Stone would throw a complete game, only allowing two solo shots as the only offense the Rebs could muster. Stone has been a serviceable pitcher, but he had previously struggled to make it through five innings in SEC play. The approach at the plate was a joke by the Rebels, swinging at first pitch sinkers repeatedly and only able to produce rollover groundouts.
The Rebels threw it pretty well on Thursday. Hunter Elliott was better in this one, throwing five and a third. He did allow three runs, but the control issues were better in this one than they had been the last two weeks. Mason Morris was again phenomenal in relief, completing the rest of the game and not allowing any runs again.
It is time to start talking about starting Morris. He has more in the tank than the 3-4 bridge innings he throws in game one every weekend. Additionally, this is three straight opening games in which Morris has allowed zero runs in relief, and the Rebels have lost. It is risky to move him out of a role he has been dominant in, but it seems like we aren't currently maximizing the best arm on the roster.
You would think the offensive approach would change going into game two, but Friday afternoon saw virtually the same performance from the Rebels. They allowed Jake McCoy, who had an over 7 ERA in league play coming into this one, to throw six and a third innings of nearly shutout baseball, only allowing a leadoff solo shot to Hayden Federico.
The offensive strategy was baffling. The bullpen for South Carolina has been a total dumpster fire all season; why the approach was to swing at every first pitch anywhere near the zone makes no sense. It allowed the starters to settle in and kept SC out of the bullpen. It raises serious questions about Bianco and hitting coach Mike Clement.
Riley Maddox was unfortunately not good on Friday. He was coming off his two best starts of the year in big spots against Kentucky and Tennessee, but he wasn't up for the task when he was needed in this one. The Rebels fell behind quickly in this one and were never in contention as they dropped game two and the series 7-2.
Luckily, the bats awakened in game 3, and it was crucial to make it out of Columbia while avoiding the potentially devastating sweep. The Rebels would bat around and put up seven runs in the first inning, including an Austin Fawley Grand Slam that his mom caught.
Fawley may be the best and certainly the best surprise of this year's transfer class. He has now hit five home runs in his last six games, and is one of the team OPS leaders in SEC play, and has been a solid improvement defensively from where the catching position was last year for Ole Miss. Mason Nichols turned in his usual performance getting through a little over four innings of solid work. The bullpen was good in this one, as the Rebels would run-rule the Gamecocks in 7 innings.
The Rebels still find themselves in prime position to return to the postseason as they sit a 10-8 in the SEC, but this series loss dealt a big blow to their chances to host a regional. The Rebels return to the field tonight, traveling to Pearl, MS, for the annual Governor's Cup game against Mississippi State. This is the season's first meeting between the Rebels and the Bulldogs before the SEC series in Starkville in a couple of weeks. The Rebels will return to Swayze on Friday to launch a crucial series against the red-hot Vanderbilt Commodores.