HOOVER | The little things are magnified as the calendar turns toward June.
Ole Miss will play a must-win game Thursday for the second time in three days as it pertains to the SEC Tournament — a notable but obvious preamble prior to NCAA Tournament games beginning next weekend.
The difference between wins and losses is always a few plays throughout three hours, but at this point of the season, there’s an elevated stress level on situations and routine occurrences. How those were executed was the difference in Arkansas 5, Ole Miss 3 from the Hoover Met.
“We just didn’t play very well and gave them too many opportunities,” Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco said. “Two walks and a hit by pitch led to three of their five runs. Part of it is we didn’t make plays in the field. There were offensive opportunities we didn’t capitalize. Not enough good at-bats to score. To beat them you have to play better than that.”
The missed chances, bobbles and ineffective at-bats plagued the Rebels (34-24) who will face Texas A&M at 9:30 a.m. While hosting chances would require a run of at least two more wins to get back into the conversation, consistent, clean baseball is the immediate goal as the stakes increase the rest of the way.
Ole Miss has plenty of talent and ability, but it also has lapses that have led to setbacks and squanders over 58 games. The Rebels are 3-1 in series against teams seeded above them in the SEC Tournament and 2-4 in series versus teams that finished below them in the league standings.
The oddities along with nine nonconference losses — the second most in Bianco’s 19 seasons — set Ole Miss with a course toward a road regional in nine days. But no matter the venue, Ole Miss has to play better. At this point, it’s about the Rebels as much as the opponents to control things. But that control has been sporadic for a while now.
Ole Miss struck out 12 times and left nine on base including five in scoring position. Against a group of Razorbacks that will be better than anyone Ole Miss sees in the regional and likely in a potential super regional, the Rebels were 1-for-10 with two outs, 2-for-15 with runners on and 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position. They did score all three runners from third with fewer than two outs.
“We need to get tougher and believe in ourselves,” said Thomas Dillard, who had two hits and has been excellent since moving to the leadoff spot four games ago. “Have to be the guy and want to be the guy. We have to push a runner to third base or want to get that done. We have to want to compete.”
Ole Miss got a runner to second with no outs in the second inning but never moved him to third base. The same happened when Dillard hit a one-out double in the third inning.
Then the eighth ended up the final difference. After two Rebels reached to open the inning, Kevin Graham struck out and Anthony Servideo flew out before Arkansas closer Matt Cronin entered and struck out Chase Cockrell on three pitches. Cronin struck out the side in the ninth.
A day before against Missouri, Bianco sacrifice bunted Grae Kessinger with a runner at second and no outs. That ended up the winning run on a Cole Zabowski single. However, Ole Miss took chances with regular at-bats and came up empty Wednesday. Baseball decisions can’t always be judged on results, but the situations show the small margins for error.
“We wanted to take three good shots at swinging and get fastballs,” Bianco said. “We probably would have had to make a lineup change to bunt and could have done that. But I thought there was a better opportunity to score if we could take three shots at swinging it.”
A double clutch defensively led to an Arkansas run, and a couple other defensive 50/50 chances kept Razorback innings alive.
Zack Phillips did well, giving up four runs on four hits in 5.2 innings. Leadoff walks scored in the first and sixth innings, the second one the more devastating, as Jack Kenley hit a 2-out, 2-strike pitch into left-center to score two and give Arkansas a 4-3 lead at the time.
Doug Nikhazy gets the ball versus the Aggies on Thursday, and while there’s still a glimmer of hope for a better postseason position, it’s another dress rehearsal for what’s to come.
Here are the true win-or-go-home days when the deciding plays will be about execution — the infrequent variable that will dictate the Rebels’ season the rest of the way.
