Jack Dougherty has become a critical piece of Ole Miss' bullpen

OXFORD | The Ole Miss baseball section of the Internet united with a common question just more than three weeks ago.

The Rebels were in the middle of a 12-run win over Austin Peay, but the score and the offensive onslaught were irrelevant. The fans wanted to know one thing: who is Jack Dougherty?

Dougherty, a freshman from Collierville, Tennessee, made his collegiate debut that night, striking out five of the six batters he faced while throwing two shutout innings. The Ole Miss bullpen was in need of an extra arm and seemingly out of nowhere a newcomer originally planning to redshirt was in the game.

Three more outings and a couple critical performances later, Dougherty has gone from unknown to one of the most important relievers for the Rebels. Ole Miss (32-12, 13-8) opens its series with Texas A&M (25-22, 5-16) at 6:30 p.m. Friday and continues at 11 a.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday, and at some point Dougherty will be needed.

The Rebels enter the series with the nation's ninth-best RPI.

“You need things to have a good year,” Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco said. “You need some guys you weren’t counting on, not necessarily guys that were coming out of redshirting and doing that kind of thing, but guys that weren’t part of the (plan) earlier in the year.”

Dougherty wasn’t expected to contribute to an extent worth removing his redshirt heading into the season. There are 22 pitchers on the Ole Miss roster, and the coaching staff decided Dougherty would be best served pitching in simulated games and working to improve his slider during the season.

But two things happened: the Ole Miss bullpen bogged down outside of Taylor Broadway and a couple others, and Dougherty dominated the simulated games, leading Bianco and Carl Lafferty to finally make the move and activate him prior to that appearance against Austin Peay.

Dougherty started against Little Rock a week later to guarantee innings, and he didn’t control his emotions as well but still flashed the ability he’d showed against the Governors. He gave up an earned run in 1.2 innings but walked a couple and gave up a couple hits.

Four days later, Dougherty entered the LSU finale with the Tigers leading by seven runs. It seemed like mop-up innings at the time, but Dougherty was the only Rebel at that point to hold down LSU. He threw 3.1 frames and gave up just one run. An eight-run eighth for Ole Miss and a Kemp Alderman walk-off later, Dougherty was the catalyst that gave the Rebels a chance at the crazy comeback.

“I feel super comfortable up there,” Dougherty said. “Locating my fastball’s going to be my best weapon. With a defense like that behind me, it’s not too hard to go out there, throw strikes, let them hit it and let my defense work.”

Dougherty’s fastball was in the mid 80s during the fall, prompting the redshirt but he’s now in the low 90s with a max that creeps into the mid 90s. The slider is improved, and he’s handled the crowds and intensity during SEC play.

The Rebels have won four straight SEC games, and Dougherty has potentially been the most valuable player in two of them.

With the Rebels trying to finish off a sweep of South Carolina Saturday, Dougherty entered in the fifth inning of a tie game with a runner on first. A strikeout and a groundout later, the Rebels were out of the jam. He added on three more scoreless innings, and Ole Miss won, 6-4.

In SEC play, Dougherty has allowed one run in seven innings with six strikeouts and a walk. He’s quickly gained Bianco’s confidence and become one of the relievers fans want in the game — less than a month after making his midweek debut in obscurity.

“It’s really cool when kids make the most of the opportunity,” Bianco said. "It doesn’t always happen, and sometimes it’s not even their fault. It’s much harder with 10,000 people in the stands against another team from the Southeastern Conference the same way they were pitching against Tim Elko and Kemp Alderman and Hudson Sapp and other guys in a sim game with nobody in the stands.

“To take that and do it when it’s for real with the uniforms on, that’s really cool to watch. Really proud of him.”