Ole Miss Baseball walked-off Arizona State in its first game of the NCAA Lincoln Regional. Designated hitter Brayden Randle played the hero with the game-winning knock in the 14th inning, but relievers Walker Hooks and Hudson Calhoun were the stars of the night. Head coach Mike Bianco did not have to go deeper into the bullpen thanks to their performances.
“Credit to the pitchers for going out there and giving us zeros,” Randle said in a postgame press conference. “Hudson (Calhoun) came out there, pitched lights out for us, kept us in the game when most of the time we wouldn’t deserve it as hitters.”
Playing 14 innings could have caused irreparable harm to Rebel pitching. Thanks to Hooks and Calhoun, the staff still has several reliable arms.
The top Rebel relievers will likely not be available the rest of the weekend, but their outings kept Landon Waters, JP Robertson and the rest of the relievers from seeing the mound.
“They were outstanding. As Brayden (Randle) said, we don’t win without those guys,” Bianco said in a postgame press conference. “What Hooks did (was great) and that was really the goal, to see if we could just go that route and bypass some of the guys like Hudson (Calhoun) and save those guys for the rest of the weekend.”
Bianco acknowledged using Calhoun was not a part of the plan. The Rebels will lean on the remaining top arms, Waters and Robertson, in Saturday’s night game against Nebraska. Bianco will also call upon Landon Koenig, Wil Libbert and Owen Kelly this weekend. All three are coming off weeks of rest.
Hooks had by far his longest outing of his career with 5 ⅓ innings and 75 pitches. His previous high was 4 ⅔ on 63 pitches.
He came in for starter Hunter Elliott in the sixth inning with a 6-4 lead and retired the bottom of the order. His lone mistake on the night was a two-run homer in the seventh that tied the game. After that, he did not surrender a run.
His game defining moment came in the 10th after a leadoff single. Hooks fielded a ball back to the mound and started a 1-6-3 double play.
In the 11th, Hooks walked the leadoff man, then got the final out of his night with an off-balance, tough throw on a bunt.
Hooks allowed three hits and two earned runs, walked two batters and struck out four. He located his pitches well and had good bite on his off speed stuff, generating 14 swings and misses.
Calhoun inherited a runner on second with a 1-0 count to begin his night. His first out sounded like a homer off the bat, instead it was a deep fly out to right field. The runner moved up to third, then the Rebels intentionally walked Big 12 Player of the Year Landon Hairston in favor of right hander Nu’u Contrades, who already had two homers in the game.
The right-hander got Contrades to a 1-2 count but could not get him to chase to set up a full count. He got a swinging strikeout to strand the go-ahead run on third. ASU only managed a single in the next three innings off Calhoun, who retired nine-straight hitters.
Calhoun spoke about the key to getting through high-leverage innings against the Sun Devils in his postgame presser.
“(Pitching coach) Joel Mangrum would call a pitch, and I have so much belief in his pitch calling,” Calhoun said. “I have so much belief in (Austin) Fawley that if it was a slider down, I’m comfortable spiking that pitch, because I know he’s going to block it. It just gives me so much freedom in being able to throw the baseball.”
Calhoun’s cutter and changeup were working well, and he got most of his outs with those pitches. ASU hit the fastball well, but the Rebel defense backed up Calhoun.
The Rebels walked it off in the 14th, giving Calhoun the win. He pitched 3 ⅔ innings, gave up one hit and struck out three.
Elliott’s start should not be overlooked, either. He struggled early, but gave the Rebels five good innings in a gritty outing.
Ole Miss has a tall task at 7 p.m. against No. 13 Nebraska, who defeated South Dakota State, 4-1, on Friday to advance to the winners bracket. That game was 2-1 going into the eighth before the home team hit two solo homers.
Nebraska pitched ace Carson Jasa in game one and reliever J’Shawn Unger threw 46 pitches in 2 ⅔ innings. The team’s most-used reliever, Tucker Timmerman, is available for Saturday’s game. The Cornhusker fanbase will pack-out Haymarket Park, making it a difficult, loud environment for the Rebels.
Taylor Rabe will start against Nebraska. The sophomore’s last outing was on May 15 against Alabama in a dominant 9-0 win. He carried a perfect game into the fifth and no-hitter into the sixth. The Rebels will look for Rabe to work deep into the ballgame before turning the ball over to Robertson or Waters.
