The Ole Miss Baseball team lost both Friday and Saturday’s contests against South Carolina after playing one of their best games all season in the series opener.

Ole Miss third baseman Jacob Gonzalez makes an error fielding a ball during a game against Alabama on April 10, 2022. Photo courtesy: Reed Jones/Ole Miss Athletics.

Saturday’s loss dropped the Rebels’ record to 21-14 and 5-10 in SEC play. Ole Miss has now put itself in a really tough position to make the NCAA tournament.

The Rebels dominated game one of the series and won 9-1. Dylan DeLucia looked really impressive as he went 7 2/3 innings, gave up only one run and struck out four. Reagan Burford and TJ McCants hit home runs early in the game that would propel the Rebels to a lopsided win.

Game two of the series went drastically different for the Rebels as they fell 4-2. Derek Diamond started the game on the mound and gave his best performance in an SEC game since he’s been at Ole Miss. Unfortunately for the Rebels, they couldn’t get their offense going and lost a very winnable game in head-scratching fashion. Tim Elko went 4-4 at the plate and sent two over the fence, but Ole Miss hitters not named Elko combined for just two hits in the game.

Game three was a close game that ended in a heartbreak for the Rebels, who showed more fight at the plate than they have all year. The Gamecocks won 9-8 on a walk-off sacrifice fly after the Rebels rallied in the top half of the ninth inning to erase a four-run deficit and tie the game. Jacob Gonzalez, Kevin Graham, Kemp Alderman and Hayden Leatherwood all had multi-hit games, but it wasn’t enough to give the Rebels a series win.

Here are the takeaways from the series:

Pain

Ole Miss just lost two must-win games against a bad South Carolina team. What makes this hurt worse is that the Rebels have seemingly found a Friday night starter who can give them a chance in the SEC in DeLucia, and they are close to establishing a rotation that allows them to be the best they can be on the mound, not to mention they are starting to hit much better.

However, now sitting at 5-10 in the SEC, the Rebels have dug themselves a hole in which they’re probably not going to be able to escape. Hosting a regional is out of the question, and they are going to need a remarkable turnaround to even make the NCAA tournament.

A month ago, the Rebels were the No. 1 ranked team in the country, and now they will most likely not make the NCAA tournament. That’s an absurdly drastic change to the season, and it’s one that really stings if you are an Ole Miss fan, especially when you consider that this team had some of the highest expectations an Ole Miss team has ever had coming into the year.

They are going to have to finish the season on a 9-6 run in SEC play to make the NCAA tournament and they have the toughest part of their schedule approaching. Mississippi State, who isn’t very good but is playing much better, comes to town next weekend and there are still road trips to Arkansas and LSU that have to be made.

It’s not impossible for the Rebels to go on a run and sneak into the tournament. Tough teams can do it, but tough teams don’t lose a must-win series to a team like South Carolina.

Mike…………

I’m still trying to process some of the late-game decisions made by head coach Mike Bianco in Saturday’s game three loss.

The madness started in the bottom of the eighth inning when Bianco called in Josh Mallitz to pitch. The last time Mallitz pitched meaningful innings for Ole Miss was exactly a year ago schedule-wise. Mallitz, only needing one out to get out of the eighth to send the Rebels to the ninth inning trailing 5-4, gave up a two-run blast on the first pitch he threw and then gave up another right after. That put the Rebels down 8-4 heading into the ninth.

First let me say, I think this series was the right time to give Mallitz another shot at it, but not in the late innings of a game that you absolutely had to win for the season’s sake. This is not a shot at Mallitz. He is a young pitcher who has been put in some really unfair situations in his career by Bianco.

Compared to what I’m about to tell you, the Mallitz decision wasn’t that bad, especially when you consider that the Rebels scored four to tie the game right after that. It’s what happened in the bottom of the ninth that’s going to make me lose some sleep.

With the game tied at eight in the bottom half, Bianco called upon Drew McDaniel to try to send the game into extra innings and also moved Kemp Alderman to catcher after a pinch-hitter took Calvin Harris out of the game.

McDaniel was once the Sunday starter, but after a series of below-average performances, he was pulled from the rotation and hasn’t pitched in a meaningful situation since. Hunter Elliot, who has proven he can get outs in the SEC, had not pitched to that point in the weekend and was the last arm in the bullpen that you could reasonably be confident in getting outs.

Pretty easy decision there right? No, not for Bianco. To confuse you even more, McDaniel started Tuesday’s game and pitched into the sixth inning. Not only was he not Ole Miss’s best option to begin with, he wasn’t even fully rested. Ole Miss lost a must-win game that was very winnable, and the last two pitchers wearing an Ole Miss uniform were Josh Mallitz and a not even fully rested Drew McDaniel. Stop and think about that for a second.

Ole Miss will play back at home against SEMO on Tuesday. That game will start at 6:30 p.m. CT on SEC Network+.