When Ole Miss Baseball lost its first round SEC Tournament game on May 19, head coach Mike Bianco and the team hoped it would be a blessing in disguise. The Rebels had nine days between games, allowing the team to rest. After opening the College World Series with a loss and the effects of leaving the conference tournament early seemingly gone, adjustments must be made.
Relying on different relievers and moving around a few batters in the lineup can make all the difference for the Rebels.
Hudson Calhoun and Ole Miss rode the rest from that break to five-consecutive postseason wins. Calhoun has been the best Rebel reliever in the playoffs. Prior to the 6-2 loss to North Carolina, he had a 1.23 earned run average in 7 ⅓ innings. Walker Hooks had a 4.32 ERA in 8 ⅓ innings. The pair have combined to save three NCAA Tournament games so far.
Along with JP Robertson, who has a 3.60 ERA in five innings, the three-headed monster in the Rebel bullpen has delivered time and time again. Last night, however, was a different story.
Starter Taylor Rabe departed a tied ballgame and Calhoun came in to end the sixth. After Ole Miss restored the lead, 2-1. Calhoun came back out for the seventh. That has been the gameplan in the past three weeks: get a lead or keep it tied and let Calhoun or Robertson bridge the gap to Hooks.
Ole Miss’ formula for success was in motion, but two issues arose. Firstly, the offense failed to add on. Secondly, Calhoun did not get an out in the seventh.
Calhoun and Hooks have combined for 18 innings in eight total appearances. The vast majority of those frames have been high-stress, high-leverage situations, where one swing of the bat can turn the tide of the game.
The dynamic duo will do whatever it takes to win. They will be available whenever. Hooks was reportedly vocalizing his readiness to pitch against Nebraska on May 30, a day after throwing 75 pitches in an extra-innings marathon.
Going to Calhoun then Hooks against UNC was absolutely the right decision, but going forward the Rebels should use other arms in big moments. Bianco spoke about just that in a press conference on June 13.
“It’s going to have to be a lot of guys. The good news is we do have that depth, and I think too many times you don’t want to hope we need to worry about tomorrow at one o’clock and not look too far down the road,” Bianco said.
Robertson will pitch against Troy tomorrow. Landon Koenig, who has not pitched since May 19, was up and throwing on Friday. He could see the mound. Wil Libbert, a hero of the Lincoln Regional final, was also getting ready yesterday and will be a left-handed option out of the bullpen.
Landon Waters has only thrown six pitches in the postseason. Getting one or two good innings out of him against Troy may be critical if the Rebels advance, just so he can get on the mound.
Other arms must be used in order for Ole Miss to advance out of the losers bracket.
Only three Rebel relievers being consistently used in the playoffs so far is concerning. Staying game-ready without actually playing games is difficult. Several Rebel relievers pitched often for several months, then suddenly had to sit for weeks, but Bianco was not concerned about that at all.
“What we’ve tried to do, and Joel (Mangrum) does a great job (of it), some of those guys will touch the mound today in bullpen sessions,” Bianco said. “Some of those guys have thrown live (batting practice). Some of those guys have thrown live and inner-squad games. Nothing takes the place of game action, but to this point we’ve done everything we can.”
While the bullpen coughed up the lead last night, the offense did not do its job. It captured a one-run lead, but they struggled to get runners on base and support the pitching staff.
The Ole Miss offense lives and dies by the homer and the walk. They could not do either against North Carolina. They struck out 11 times, just one of those was looking. UNC induced a ton of swings and misses and got the Rebels to expand the zone, a big contributor to their ability to keep runners off base.
Despite UNC starter Jason DeCaro throwing just 106 pitches in 6 ⅔ innings, Ole Miss was able to work counts well, they just did not get the desired result enough.
The lineup has not changed much in the past month and likely will not change. The biggest difference between now and the regular season is Brayden Randle playing outfield and batting eighth, with Collin Reuter as the designated hitter in the nine spot.
Coming into the College World Series, Randle was batting .500. He got a hit against UNC in his first at-bat. Owen Paino, who replaced Randle as the everyday shortstop earlier in the season, was batting .095 prior to yesterday’s game. He had two singles last night and two strikeouts.
Paino and Randle need to swap places in the order. Paino can land timely hits, like he did against Nebraska in the regional, but he also has 13 strikeouts in six games. Flipping them puts a hotter bat further up in the lineup.
To take things a step further, Federico and Tristan Bissetta need to flip spots in the lineup. Firstly, it eliminates back-to-back lefties in the order and puts a switch hitter in the middle of the two. Secondly, Federico puts the ball in play more, walks more than he strikes out and is reaching base at a .520 clip in the postseason.
The Rebel cleanup man, Bissetta, is doing the opposite. He is batting .125 with seven strikeouts in the playoffs. That is acceptable since he puts the ball over the wall so much, but he could provide more runs if a high-percentage on-base guy was on the bases. Federico is that guy. Two of Bissetta’s three homers in the postseason have been solo shots.
While Federico only has five stolen bases this year, he had 12 last year. Federico had a leg injury earlier in the season, so maybe that element of his game has taken a back seat. Still, he is quick around the bases and is capable of swiping a couple bags, which would help get a runner in scoring position for Bissetta more consistently.
