OXFORD | Derek Diamond filled in admirably on Friday, turning an emergency start into the best outing of his season, given the circumstances.
Relegated to bullpen work a week ago after some uneven Sunday outings, Diamond found out midday he may replace Gunnar Hoglund as the opening starter of the weekend after Hoglund was scratched because of arm stiffness.
The sophomore responded with six innings of work that yielded just one earned run. He scattered four hits and struck out four without a walk. He threw 70 strikes in 95 pitches and was better than the result, as mistakes around him led to LSU’s 5-4 win to start the series.
Game two is Friday at 6:30 p.m., with Ole Miss (27-11, 9-7) trying to avoid losing its fourth straight weekend. LSU is 23-14 (5-11).
Mike Bianco told Diamond at 2:30 p.m. Thursday there was a chance he was the option if Hoglund couldn’t go, and he found out an hour later it was a certainty.
Diamond trailed 2-0 after a 25-pitch half inning to start the game despite giving up just two hits — one of which came after the inning should have been over. The Rebels committed three errors in the frame and fell behind immediately because of poor defense.
The right-hander retired 11 in a row following the first-inning chaos and used a 9-pitch sixth inning to extend once his pitch count reached 80. A leadoff double in the seventh ended his evening.
“We had an awful first inning defensively and for him to respond like that was special,” Bianco said. He handled it, and that’s why he was the obvious choice.”
Taylor Broadway entered and allowed the inherited runner to score on a 3-0 fastball single, and then Dylan Crews hit a two-run home run to give LSU a 5-4 lead — a half inning after Jacob Gonzalez hit a two-run home run to break the 2-2 tie.
“I thought some of his pitches just got too much of the plate tonight,” Bianco said.
Ole Miss used three home runs for its four runs, two solo shots, one from Kevin Graham and Hayden Leatherwood’s fourth home run in the last three games, but struggled situationally beyond that. The Rebels were 4-for-21 with runners on and 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position.
The Rebels entered the weekend leading the SEC with a .333 batting average with runners in scoring position in league games. Ole Miss left a runner on in every inning on Thursday.
The first two batters reached in the ninth inning, but all three outs were strikeouts. Cael Baker hit a sharp single to the third baseman with two outs to extend the game and load them for Calvin Harris. He struck out after two foul balls. TJ McCants and John Rhys Plumlee struck out earlier in the inning.
Baker had three hits and has multiple hits in three of his last six games. He only had one multi-hit game in the first 17 games of the season. Justin Bench was the only other Rebel with more than one hit. He had 2 of the team’s 10.
Ole Miss has lost four straight series openers and 1-3 in the last four SEC games despite its starting pitchers handling 27.1 of the 34 combined innings.
The Rebels ran LSU starter Landon Marceaux with four runs in 5.1 innings. Marceaux had allowed one or zero runs in four of his five SEC starts prior to tonight.
LSU closer Devin Fontenot shut out Ole Miss the final three innings for his third save of the season.
Leatherwood left the game after colliding with TJ McCants in centerfield in the seventh inning. Bianco said he should be find moving forward.
