Rebels rout Memphis to equal best 30-game record in school history
MEMPHIS | Over the course of a 56-game regular season slog, there needs to be breathers — be in it wins or losses.
Certain pitchers need breaks, tinkering is sometimes a necessity, and it’s obvious weekends carry more importance in the scheme of building a host-worthy resume come regional time.
At 6-3 in the SEC and suffering just one nonconference loss entering Wednesday, the trip to Memphis was a one-game hiatus from the meat-grinder of SEC play and a situation where a little less focus would be understood.
Instead, the visit to AutoZone Park, the home of the Triple-A Cardinals, was a laugher, as No. 3 Ole Miss scored in five straight innings at one point and built an 11-run lead by the sixth, eventually beating the host Tigers, 12-0, and moving to 26-4 on the season. That matches the 2004 Rebels for the best record through 30 games in school history.
“It doesn’t usually work out that way,” Mike Bianco said. “Best laid plans. But everybody played. Every position player that was on the bench played and the pitchers that we needed to pitch. We really needed them to get out there because it was starting to get some spread where they hadn’t been out there. And they looked terrific. Just really proud. Proud they looked the part.”
Ole Miss is also 20-1 in non-SEC play. That 2004 team went 23-3 in out-of-league games, the best mark in Mike Bianco’s 18 seasons. The Rebels are 9-0 in midweek games this season.
Memphis is 9-20 on the season and entered the day No. 213 in RPI. Ole Miss swept the season series for the first time since 2016.
Thomas Dillard, who has a hit in 18 of the last 19 games, drove in four runs and scored three times with a single and a triple. Ole Miss led 5-0 after five innings and then scored five runs in the sixth on four singles, a walk, two hit by pitches and a Memphis error.
Bianco said on Monday he wanted to rest the key contributors from a tried bullpen, as Ole Miss relievers threw 19 innings last week during a 3-1 stretch against top-15 teams. Mission accomplished, as Houston Roth escaped two bases-loaded situations to throw 4.1 scoreless innings with 91 pitches, and the Rebels pieced the rest of the game together with Max Cioffi, who threw 1.2 innings, and Jordan Fowler, Connor Green and Austin Miller — as those three threw one inning each.
Memphis left the bases loaded in each of the first two innings against Roth. He struck out four, walked five and allowed three hits.
“It wasn’t, obviously, his best game,” Bianco said. “He walked five, I think he hit a guy, we commit an error. You do that in four and a third, usually you’re giving up runs. But he made some big pitches in the bottom of the first to get out, and we got some good baseball fortune to where a couple of balls went right at people. But it was kind of an up-and-down outing for him where he looked good for two hitters, then would maybe lose it for a hitter or walk a guy.”
The Rebels were excellent situationally, hitting 5-for-13 with two outs, 9-for-20 with runners on base and 7-for-15 with runners in scoring position. They held Memphis to 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position.
Ole Miss played 16 different position players and had 12 hits including two triples for the second time this season. Will Golsan went 3-for-5 with the other triple, and Ryan Olenek and Tyler Keenan each had two hits. Olenek has an eight-game hitting streak and six straight games with multiple hits.
“It’s nice to have a midweek game like this where we can just get out there and get our at-bats in and let guys who don’t necessarily get at-bats get in there and do their job,” Dillard said. “It’s fun to be 12-0 in any game.”