Ole Miss took two of three from ULM over the weekend, moving to 13-3 on the season and pushing toward the SEC opener versus Auburn on Friday. The Rebels travel to Ruston, La., for a two-game midweek series on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Ole Miss controlled three of the four nonconference weekends and has won eight of nine since losing two of three to UCF in the second week of the season. Sunday's loss has little-to-no impact on the big picture, but Ole Miss does have some questions to answer currently.

Let's take a look at three of them.

Doug Nikhazy missed his start this week with a strained pectoralis minor, the muscle that connects the chest to the shoulder. It's a grade 2 sprain which means it's partially torn. It tightened up on him two weeks ago, and he experienced discomfort while pitching against Belmont.

Ole Miss will reevaluate Nikhazy this week, but Mike Bianco was short on certainty Sunday when asked about the left-hander's availability.

“I don’t know that answer,” Bianco said. “I wish I did. That’s part of the problem with this whole injury. But certainly will have to make a decision somewhere midweek, sometime Wednesday, Thursday.”

Drew McDaniel started for Nikhazy on Saturday and did a solid job, working into the sixth inning. Some patience is required with Nikhazy's injury, but Ole Miss needs him back as soon as possible in order to shift all available arms into desired roles.

The Ole Miss bullpen will get some assistance when Max Cioffi returns from a meniscus injury. He had knee surgery last Tuesday and was expected to be out 2 to 4 weeks.

“I don’t know if it’s even fair to put a timetable on there,” Bianco said. “I think he’s progressing. He’s feeling good. A lot of smiles and feeling strong. I think it’s too hard to put a timetable on him until we can try to get him to full-speed movement. It all depends on that.

“But so far, so good. So far, I think we’re on the sooner side rather than the later side of something like this... I don’t want to box ourselves in to say two weeks, but I think we’re going to probably be closer to two weeks than four weeks.”

ULM played plenty of small ball on Saturday and Sunday, taking a lead into the bottom of the ninth on Saturday and winning 8-3 on Sunday. The Warhawks bunted and ran effectively, rattling Ole Miss with first-and-third movement and stress in the infield.

The main thing is it's good Ole Miss saw it now. What to work on is pretty clear, as pitchers struggled with fielding and what to do with the ball, and the middle of the infield didn't handle intentional rundowns, twice allowing runs in pivotal situations.

While these were all pretty routine baseball plays, there's some experience -- or inexperience -- that comes into play. Game situations are different than practice, and Ole Miss up the middle -- shortstop Jacob Gonzalez, catcher Hayden Dunhurst and second baseman Peyton Chatagnier -- have zero combined SEC games and fewer than 35 combined college games.

It's Tim Elko's first full season at third base, and Ole Miss doesn't have a plus defender at first base. Growing pains are expected, and the Rebels will be better for having gone through that frustrating bout of defensive liability.

Dunhurst is arguably the best catch-and-throw player in the league, and it's fine to trust him to throw through on the first-and-third situations.

However, the middle infield has to be aware and play cautiously back toward home. Some of it is a product of a lack of cohesiveness. Gonzalez and Chatagnier have only played five full games together in the middle infield.

Pitchers have committed five of the Rebels' 17 errors. If the issues continue, then it's a legitimate problem, but for now, it's probably good to get some of that over with and build some experience executing small ball defense in high-leverage situations.

Ole Miss needs to set up its pitching staff for the start of league play on Friday, but the road trip to Ruston isn't a cakewalk. Tech is 9-5 and had won four straight before losing 2 of 3 to Arkansas -- one of those in extra innings. The Bulldogs took the finale on Sunday.

With Nikhazy's availability unknown for Auburn and McDaniel not ready to start either midweek because of a lack of rest and the potential need to start another Saturday, Ole Miss is in a bit of an odd dilemma against a quality team with games it needs to win.

Freshman Josh Mallitz started against Alcorn this past Tuesday, and that's a good bet for one of the two starts in northern Louisiana. Jackson Kimbrell has starter experience and Bianco trusts him, but if Nikhazy is out, Kimbrell is the only left-hander on the pitching staff with a consistent role, and his availability would be limited for the Tigers.

Tyler Myers has pitched multiple innings in three of his four appearances and seems closer to his pre-injury self.

I expect pitcher-by-committee at least one, if not both days, and Bianco will need to use his depth to make sure the main arms aren't taxed prior to league play. Nikhazy's injury has a trickle-down effect that adds an extra layer of difficulty to managing eight games in 10 days.