It was a perfect Saturday for Ole Miss and the suddenly surging Rebels get a great opportunity to take the entire series on Sunday.
The Rebels, led by Dylan DeLucia’s rubber-arm effort, topped LSU 5-3 in the opener that was suspended due to inclement weather on Friday and finished the final six-plus innings before the regular scheduled middle game of the weekend.
Ole Miss, in that one, emphatically clinched the series with a 11-1 win that gave the Rebels their second straight series win in Baton Rouge after not winning a series at LSU (33-17, 14-12) between 1982 and 2019. Ole Miss has won five straight in the SEC standings and six in a row overall.
The Rebels, a week, had just three top-50 RPI wins on the season, but that number is now six after the midweek road victory at Southern Miss (RPI 31) and these first two at LSU (RPI 23).
The finale is at 1 p.m. Sunday, as Ole Miss goes for the sweep and a loud weekend in the search for an NCAA at-large bid. Eight days ago, the Rebels were tied for the worst record in the SEC and had an RPI in the 60s but now Ole Miss (30-19) is 12-14 in the league with an RPI at 38.
Ole Miss has never swept a three-game series in Baton Rouge. Ole Miss won multiple two-game series as late as the 1960s and three straight and three of four in a series in Baton Rouge in 1938.
The final week of the season features a road trip to RPI 226 Arkansas State and a home weekend with RPI 20 Texas A&M.
Ole Miss hasn’t allowed more than three runs in five straight games, and pitching has keyed this late resurgence, while the offense has had more days of looking like the lineup expected early in the season.
DeLucia threw 36 pitches before Friday’s game was suspended and came back 14 hours later to continue his outing. DeLucia threw into the eighth inning and allowed three runs and three hits with nine strikeouts and 117 pitches.
The junior college transfer told Mike Bianco this morning he felt good and wanted the ball and responded with what’s now a trademark toughness that’s elevated those around him.
DeLucia has thrown at least 105 pitches in five straight starts, and four of his six starts have lasted at least seven innings. Another was 6.1 innings of no earned runs at Kentucky.
“I woke up and was ready to go,” DeLucia said. “(Bianco’s) confidence in me was great. The day after I pitch I’m not sore. I’m a second-day (soreness) guy. I went to bed expecting to pitch.”
In the second game of the day, freshman Hunter Elliott continued his recent tear. The left-hander has lasted at least six innings in three consecutive starts, and pitched into the seventh inning this time, giving up one earned run and tying his career high with nine strikeouts. His SEC starter ERA is 2.61, and he’s combined with DeLucia to be the main reasons Ole Miss’ starting pitcher ERA in the past 14 games is below 3.90.
“Elliott was super and her continues to get better and better,” Bianco said. “Today they really struggled picking up the changeup. It was mostly fastball-changeup.”
Big innings carried things for Ole Miss offensively. The Rebels got four in the fourth in game one off Maikhail Hilliard and two two-run innings and a five-run fourth helped Oe Miss to a 10-0 lead by the fifth inning in game two.
Kevin Graham had five hits total in the two games, and Ole Miss hit five home runs — Elko in game one and one each from Elko, Justin Bench, Graham and Hayden Dunhurst in game two. Elko and Graham went back-to-back in the first inning of game two.
Elko has 41 career home runs, tied for second all-time in school history with Matt Smith and Matt Snyder. Kyle Gordon has the record with 48 home runs.
Graham has 24 hits in his last 13 games including eight multiple-hit games in that span. He has 17 RBIs in those games. Ole Miss is averaging 7.5 runs per game during this six-game wining streak.
LSU had three errors in game two leading to four unearned runs.
“The series isn’t enough,” Elliott said. “We need to sweep tomorrow.”
