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OMAHA | Ole Miss pitching coach Carl Lafferty, 289 days ago, didn’t necessarily have a premonition, but he defined Dylan DeLucia’s qualities that would hopefully translate to Division I baseball.
DeLucia, at the time, was a newcomer from junior college who had been on campus a short time and was yet to throw off the mound in game action at Swayze Field or definitely a venue such as Charles Schwab Field. He was maybe a candidate for the Ole Miss rotation, and Lafferty thought he had intangibles to survive the rigors of the season.
“He’s going to be tough and throw strikes and just compete out there,” Lafferty said, partly serving up a scouting report and partly hoping for his words to come true. “He can get outs in this league. He’ll find a role.”
That role is ace, and the latest evidence happened in Omaha, as the pro-Ole Miss crowd dwarfed Auburn’s, setting up a nine-inning party.
DeLucia dominated Auburn on Saturday, catapulting thee Rebels past the Tigers, 5-1, and into a winner’s bracket matchup with Arkansas Monday at 6 p.m., date that’s sure to be an intraconference bedlam of an atmosphere.
“The absolutely difference in the ballgame was Dylan,” Auburn coach Butch Thompson said.
The winner will advance to the bracket championship on Wednesday. Arkansas took two of three from the Rebels in Fayetteville back at the beginning of May. It’s Ole Miss’ second time in six chances to win its opening game of the College World Series. The other was a win over New Hampshire in the 1956 appearance.
The right-hander went 7.2 innings, with a Jacob Gonzalez error keeping him from eight full frames on his 114th pitch (79 strikes). He struck out 10 without a walk, pinpointing the fastball and slider throughout the night. The only trouble happened in the seventh when Auburn picked up three hits in a row and broke the shutout. DeLucia stranded two runners to escape more damage.
“Dylan was just terrific,” Mike Bianco said. “Not just tonight but since we put him in the rotation. He used the slider for punch outs and elevated the fastball. He could do anything tonight. They had a tough time figuring him out.”
Auburn’s seventh-inning run broke a 26-inning scoreless streak for the Ole Miss pitching staff in the NCAA Tournament. The last run prior to that was in the seventh inning against Arizona in the Coral Gables Regional championship game.
DeLucia, who was perfect through 14 batters to start the game, didn’t start against Auburn in the regular season but gave up two runs and six hits in 3.1 innings in relief. DeLucia didn’t start a game until the sixth weekend of the season and wasn’t a fixture in the rotation until two weeks after that.
He indirectly told the media multiple times he is more comfortable starting, but the evidence of that didn’t come until he did it.
As a reliever this season, DeLucia has an 8.10 ERA in 18 innings. DeLucia, as a starter, has a 2.85 ERA in 66.1 innings. In the NCAA Tournament, DeLucia has a 1.86 ERA.
Josh Mallitz retired all three batters he faced by strikeout. A back-pick by Hayden Dunhurst ended the eighth inning. Mallitz, using an elite slider has struck out 24, walked two and not allowed an earned run since May 11, a span of 14.1 innings.
Ole Miss scored in four different innings, and the runs crossed with two outs in three of those innings. After the first two outs in the first, Tim Elko singled, Kevin Graham doubled, Kemp Alderman singled them both in for an early lead.
Two innings later, Graham hit a two-out opposite field home run, showing a textbook approach against Auburn starter Joseph Gonzalez who was sinker-heavy throughout his five innings. He gave up seven hits and four runs.
TJ McCants had a two-out RBI single in the sixth that made it 5-0. A batter prior, Peyton Chatagnier hit a sharp grounder with the bases loaded. Auburn third baseman Blake Rambusch turned a double play but one run scored.
Ole Miss had 11 hits, with Harris and Alderman having two apiece to join Graham’s three.
