Ole Miss made short work of Charleston Southern on Saturday, picking up an 11-1 win that went only seven innings because of the 10-run rule that was in effect. The Rebels go for the sweep at 1:30 on Sunday.
Hayden Leatherwood and Tim Elko both hit home runs, and John Gaddis got the win in his Ole Miss debut.
Here are some observations from Swayze Field.
The Buccaneers did nothing necessary to stay in the game in the middle day of the series. Facing a significant talent and experience gap, Charleston Southern committed three errors, walked seven, hit two batters and went 0-for-1 on stolen base attempts. The only path to competitiveness is clean baseball, and the Bucs have struggled to throw strikes and make enough routine plays.
Gaddis was on a 75-pitch count after missing a week of preseason practice and threw exactly that many in four innings, scattering three hits and two walks with three strikeouts and two walks. He threw 47 strikes.
The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi transfer worked quickly as expected and scattered a couple early walks before Ole Miss gave him plenty of run support. The fastball was in the low 90s early and settled between 88-90. The changeup is above average, and he probably needs his curve ball a little more as the season moves along.
He was overthrowing a touch early, likely due to the first outing adrenaline, but he settled in fine and pitched well for an opening appearance.
“A guy that’s fast tempo and get on the mound and throw a ton of strikes and put himself in good counts because he attacks with fastball and is tough as nails,” Bianco said. “He’s a sharp kid with a lot of confidence and it’s a good pickup for us.”
Riley Maddox had the best outing of the day, pitching lights out for two innings of relief. The freshman maxed at 95 MPH and used a low 80s breaking ball for called strikes and swing and miss. Maddox threw 17 of 19 pitches for strikes and struck out thee of the seven batters faced. He allowed a hit but flashed a lot of ability.
“If he can do that, it’s pretty special,” Bianco said. “We’ve seen that in the last six months but it’s different. These kids dream about playing here and playing in front of 11,000 people and running out there the first time. Especially the pitchers with the spotlight on you. It’s been really good. He was terrific today. Slider and a really good changeup. If he can do that our bullpen just got a lot better.”
Matt Parenteau, a JUCO transfer, had a perfect seventh inning. He topped at 92 MPH and truck out the side, throwing 10 of 16 pitches for strikes.
Elko hit his second home run in as many days and was the only Rebels with multiple hits. He’s definitely 100 percent. The lineup was better today, getting him in the top three in the order. There’s no reason to hit him fourth ever.
Kevin Graham had reached base in 61 straight games before Saturday, a number that led the nation. He went 0-for-4 with a strikeout and is hitless so far on the weekend.
Peyton Chatagnier scored three times and had one of Ole Miss’ three doubles. Jacob Gonzalez had a hit and reached base three times. The Rebels were 5-for-16 with runners on base and 3-for-10 with runners in scoring position.
“We walk and we will walk and let people walk us,” Bianco said. “Also it’s great to have superstars and to have a great offense you have to have that, but when you mention names you forget about (TJ) McCants and (Justin) Bench. Then the first home run today is hit by Leatherwood who didn’t even play yesterday. Throughout the lineup, when many guys can contribute; most offenses aren’t like that.”
