Ole Miss scored three runs in the first inning but was listless offensively the rest of the way, as Arizona moved the Rebels to the brink of elimination with a 9-3 win in game one of the Tucson Super Regional.
The Rebels have to win two straight games to continue their season, starting with game two Saturday at 9 p.m. CT on ESPN2. Doug Nikhazy will start for Ole Miss.
Here are some observations:
Mike Bianco said it best, when he commented on the offense but included the pitching, as well.
“Just not a good day for us offensively and not a good day for us all around,” Bianco said. “We were poor on the mound and didn’t make enough pitches… They were better than us.”
That’s the long and the short of it. Arizona was simply better than Ole Miss on Friday. The Wildcats hit four home runs and then completely suffocated the Rebel offense. Ole Miss didn't show enough competitive pitches on the mound and had far too many uncompetitive at-bats at the plate. Meanwhile, Arizona hit mistakes and forced Ole Miss to hit fastballs early in the count. The Rebels failed at that.
The Rebels scored three runs in he first inning on a Justin Bench double and TJ McCants single but had three hits and no runs the rest of the game. Following McCants’ RBI single, Ole Miss was 0-for-12 with runners on base and 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position.
Ole Miss only advanced a runner twice in 14 opportunities and struggled against an Arizona pitching staff that effectively pitched away and got fastballs by the Rebels. Ole Miss missed way too many hittable fastballs early in the count, and then got fooled by secondary pitches and consistently tried and failed to pull outside pitches — typically when behind in counts.
The game was tied in the top of the fifth when Ole Miss missed the key opportunity of the game to take back the lead.
Peyton Chatagnier singled and Kevin Graham walked to start the inning, but three poor at-bats followed. Tim Elko struck out, Justin Bench hit an infield pop up and McCants hit a routine ground out to strand the two runners.
Arizona retired the final nine batters of the game, and only one ball the last three innings left the infield.
Justin Bench and Jacob Gonzalez each had a double in the first inning but didn’t reach base again after that. Kevin Graham didn’t have a hit, and Tim Elko struck out three times in three at-bats. The Rebels have relied on those players to carry them, and the reality is the lineup has been pretty poor for a while now in the other areas. No one stepped up on Friday.
McCants had two hits, but the 7-through-9 spots in the order went 1-for-10. Hayden Dunhurst and Cael Baker are hitting .169 and .122, respectively, in the last month.
Derek Diamond gave up eight hits and four runs in four innings. He left after a leadoff single in the fifth, and Tyler Myers gave up a home run as soon as he entered the game. Diamond allowed three solo home runs and had only one strikeout in his 78 pitches.
Diamond’s fastball velocity was down throughout the night, at least making me wonder if the short rest affected his ability to max it out. Myers, who gave up five runs in 3.2 innings, also seemed a tick down during his outing.
Myers threw more than 60 pitches, meaning Jack Dougherty or Drew McDaniel will likely get the ball if there’s a game three on Sunday.
“Their stuff was down,” Bianco said. “Fastball velo was down, everything was down velocity-wise. They don’t strike out a ton. Not a lot of swing and miss there. We have to bring more stuff to the table than that. We weren’t good enough on the mound tonight.
“We got to play better than this. It’s not about saving the bullpen. It’s about playing better.”
