OXFORD | John Gaddis threw six pitches in the first inning on Friday, as one-pitch, two-pitch and three-pitch at-bats sent Ole Miss to the dugout to hit before most of the matinee crowd settled in.
It was a continuation of Gaddis’ previous start when he was very efficient in seven scoreless innings against UCF, and it looked like it would be another day of strikes, quick outs and fastball command that dictated plate appearances.
But, instead of that, Gaddis had to battle, strand runners and escape damage during the first Friday start of his Ole Miss career — after throwing game two previously this season after transferring from Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
The Rebels beat Oral Roberts 16-2 when a four-run fourth inning and a five-run seventh turned it into a laugher. But before Tim Elko hit a grand slam in the fifth and Ole Miss (12-1) piled up 11 hits through six innings, it was a competitive game and Gaddis was searching for key pitches.
Gaddis entered with a 0.71 WHIP and 11 total base runners in 14 innings but 10 Eagles (9-4) reached base against him between the second inning and his final frame in the fifth. It was mostly weak contact, but Gaddis gave up seven hits and walked three batters. He threw 58 of 96 pitches for strikes and used seven strikeouts to evade damage.
“You’re going to look at the line score and saw ‘wow’ but they are a good offense,” Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco saiid. “I thought he made some good pitches and it sounds like sour grapes, but I thought some pitches beat their hitters and credit to them. They put the ball in play and balls got in there and got bunched. He gave up a couple runs but it could have been much worse. He made pitches to get off the field.”
After a two-pitch fly out to start the second, Oral Roberts strung together three straight singles to score a run, cutting the lead to two at the time, and setting up runners on the corners with one out. But instead of it spiraling, Gaddis got a swinging strikeout on a seven-pitch at-bat and then another one swinging on a 1-2 count to strand the runners.
Oral Roberts singled twice in a row with two outs in the third, but a weak grounder to first base stopped that threat.
Gaddis seemed to be destined for a quick hook in the fourth. Two singles and two walks ini the first five batters walked in a run and cut the Ole Miss lead to a run. Both walks were on only five pitches each, and Mason Nichols was up in the bullpen for most of the frame. Bianco came to the mound and told him to just keep competing and don’t focus on results. And don’t get frustrated.
And instead of it spiraling, Gaddis got a fly out and another strikeout to keep the lead. It was part of retiring five of six to end his outing and tread water before the offense exploded.
It wasn’t as clean of a start for Gaddis, but it was a good warmup for SEC adversity that will come at some point. He had been on quite the tear, entering Friday with a 0.64 ERA and last year with the Islanders Gaddis gave up just four earned runs in his final 52.1 innings.
“He gets back to back strikeouts and gets off the field (in the second) and a situation later the same thing with a strikeout,” Bianco said. “He did that against UCF and that’s why we moved him to Friday. He makes that big pitch when you need him.”
Elko had three hits, and four different Rebels scored multiple times. Ole Miss put up three in the first off Isaac Coffey, who was the Summit League Pitcher of the Year in 2021. The Rebels got two quick runs on an Elko two-run single but only scored once more after that despite having the bases loaded with no outs.
The lack of a bigger ending mattered until the fourth when Peyton Chatagnier doubled in two runs and scored a batter leader on a Justin B each single. Elko had an RBI single in the inning and finished the day with seven RBIs.
Reagan Burford doubled twice and is hitting .476 on the season.
Ole Miss has scored double digits in nine of its 13 games this season.
Mason Nichols allowed two hits and no runs in two relief innings. The freshman hasn’t given up a run in five career appearances over 7.1 innings. Josh Mallitz, making his first appearance of the year, threw two perfect innings with three strikeouts.
