The Rebs left no doubt this weekend against Charleston Southern in their series opener, sweeping the Bucs in three games.
Heading into this weekend, Ole Miss was ranked No. 5, but thanks to their dominant performance against Charleston Southern, they squeaked into the Top-3 alongside Texas and Arkansas in D1 Baseball rankings.
Derek Diamond earned the start for the Rebels on Friday night, earning the win through five innings. Diamond only allowed two runs on two hits and added eight strikeouts to his 2022 debut.
Offensively, the Rebs were in control for the entirety of the game with eight RBI’s and nine runs scored on seven hits. Most notably, a home run in the fourth inning for Tim Elko. It was a solo shot into right field. If you thought he was good with one ACL, you should see him with two.
Game two, the Rebs left no doubt winning the game in only seven innings due to a run-rule being put into place prior to the start of this game. Ole Miss finished this game out with 11 runs to the Bucs one run.
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi transfer, John Gaddis, earned his first start in a Rebel uniform and had a very impressive outing. Gaddis walked the first batter of the game, before going on to finish out the first inning with two straight strikeouts. He went for four innings, allowing just one run on three hits with three strikeouts and two walks. He earned the win at Swayze and couldn’t believe the crowd that he saw.
“I was a little pumped up to start the game,” Gaddis said, “but I kind of settled down and just started pitching. The most I probably played in front of at my old school was about 500 people, and I’m sure they had more than 500 people (in right field). It was really cool.”
The nerves seemed to be a non-issue for the seasoned pitcher, and Gaddis was able to prove that he will be a vital part to the stacked pitching staff as the year goes on.
Offensively, Ole Miss was unstoppable. Tim Elko hit his second home run of the year, as well as adding three RBI’s. Senior Hayden Leatherwood, despite not playing in game one, came in to hit an additional home run for the Rebels.
“It’s good to get off to a good start,” Head Coach Mike Bianco said, “but even at the bottom of the lineup, the first home run is by Leatherwood who didn’t play yesterday. Throughout the lineup, many guys can contribute. Most offenses aren’t like that.”
The Ole Miss offense is just that. A top to bottom dominating affair, allowing zero breathing room for opposing pitchers. There were six different Rebels in this game with at least one hit. Jacob Gonzalez, Peyton Chatagnier and Ben Van Cleve each had a double, while McCants and Hayden Dunhurst had a single.
In the middle of the second game, Golden Glove winner Hayden Dunhurst was forced to leave the game after sustaining a minor hamstring tweak. Bianco mentioned that while rounding the bases, he injured it and is considered day-to-day.
Ole Miss came in looking for the sweep in game three and was again able to get it done in seven innings. The bats stayed hot for the Rebs with 12 hits and 12 runs scored, as they walked away from the weekend undefeated.
The Rebels will turn their attention to the Arkansas State Red Wolves for their first mid-week game of the season tonight at 4 p.m. CST on SEC Network+.
