Ole Miss Baseball swept the Lincoln Regional with three gritty competitive games. They had many impactful plays, but the intricate nuances that built those moments cannot be forgotten in the Rebels’ memorable weekend.
The Rebels did not score first in any of their three wins and played 33 innings overall, with two games starting on one day and ending the next. Thanks to the sweep, they have four days off til the super regionals begin, giving them a normal, regular season-like few days between games.
The bullpen was the key to the regional win. Walker Hooks, Hudson Calhoun, JP Robertson and Wil Libbert combined for 17 innings pitched, two wins, a 2.12 ERA, nine hits, four earned runs and 15 strikeouts. All four runs came off two swings, a pair of two-run homers.
Landon Waters also appeared, but he only threw six pitches and did not record an out.
The offense, with a pair of walk-offs and three comeback wins, was clutch and mostly timely.
Friday night starter Hunter Elliott gave up four earned runs in five innings. The Rebels were down 3-1 going into the bottom of the third, but Will Furniss hit a two-run double and Tristan Bissetta launched a two-run homer to take the lead.
Elliott departed the game with the lead, but the Ole Miss bullpen had work to do to win. Hooks stepped up to do just that. He threw a career high 5 ⅓ innings and 75 pitches on Friday. His only mistake was a two-run, game-tying homer in the seventh.
His pitching and defensive performance saved the Rebel bullpen. Calhoun backed him and escaped a jam in the 11th, then pitched the rest of the game. He also came out to end the suspended game against Nebraska on Sunday morning.
Reliever Wil Libbert was a vital part of Ole Miss’ win over ASU on Sunday. He did not give up a hit or run in three innings of work. The lefty began the year as a starter, but was kicked to the bullpen and had an up-and-down regular season overall.
“He’s been one of my best friends this entire year, and I know it’s been really hard on him, especially when you know you’re really good, which he is,” Hudson Calhoun said in a press conference on Tuesday. “He just hasn’t had the success, but to go out there and do that for us, especially when arms are a little tired, it was massive for us and then helped us win the regional.”
The sixth inning against Nebraska will go down as the most important inning of the regional for the Rebels. They came into the inning down one run and left it with a 3-1 lead.
Shortstop Owen Paino went 0-for-6 with four strikeouts in Friday’s game, but gave Ole Miss the lead with a two-run double against Nebraska.
Taylor Rabe gave the Rebels six innings of one-run baseball on Saturday. His sixth inning escape of a bases-loaded, one-out jam with a two-run lead and a record crowd against him was crucial to the weekend, only trailing two walk-off hits in importance.
“I think you could say that it would be something that we look back on. Those are the types of moments that can really swing a game,” Rabe said after the game on Sunday morning. “For us to be on the right side of it, and to make a big pitch, put some bats together that half inning before was huge for us. That was this place’s peak capacity and we handled it, so I think that (gives) a lot of confidence for us.”
JP Robertson dominated in his two appearances. He pitched four innings on Saturday and Sunday, only giving up two earned runs and three hits, while getting a win. He would have finished the game on Saturday had it not been suspended.
Hooks spoke about the bullpen’s usage in the high-stakes games over the weekend in a press conference on Tuesday.
“It’s fun for sure because you never know who’s gonna pitch when or how long they’re going to go,” Hooks said. “I’d say you just throw people out there and see if it sticks. Then we just did a really good job of managing who was going to throw in what innings, and then finishing the weekend out with a good bullpen.”
On Friday, the Rebel offense did not score for nine innings before designated hitter Brayden Randle walked it off in the 14th innings. With five hits and three RBIs in the regional, he is getting hot at the right time.
Similarly, Hayden Federico had a stellar trip to Lincoln, Neb. He scored three runs and compiled seven hits for a .500 batting average. Both Federico and Randle were named to the All-Lincoln Regional team.
What may be forgotten about the 14-inning win is the chances Ole Miss had to win it before the walk-off. Between the seventh and 14th innings, Ole Miss stranded the bases loaded, left a runner on second, left two more runners on and got thrown out at home with the infield in.
Randle and Piano had critical hits on Friday and Saturday, respectively, but Austin Fawley’s game-tying double in the seventh inning on Sunday kept the Rebels from playing on Monday.
The viral play from the weekend was Dom Decker’s regional-winning sacrifice fly, but Luke Romine made that play happen. The freshman appeared in Friday’s game and struck out twice, but he flipped the script with a pinch-hit single to move the runner to third on Sunday.
Romine would have had the winning-hit, but the ASU shortstop was shifted towards second base. Since the ball was hit just to the left of the bag, near the shifted fielder, pinch runner Cannon Goldin had to go back to second.
Not to be forgotten is the Rebel defense. They executed bunt defense well, only committed one error and made a few clutch, run-saving plays.
On Sunday, Paino snagged a liner with a leaping effort to prevent a run and threw out a runner on an off-balance throw. Decker had a diving grab as well.
The Rebels clicked all weekend. They fought hard and played well through adversity. Now, they are two wins away from Omaha, Neb.
