It was a rollercoaster three-game series between No. 4 Ole Miss (6-1) and No. 13 Maryland (3-4) in Oxford.
Although it was a rocky start for the Rebels, they eventually found their footing and won the series 2-1.
Right-hander Jack Dougherty pitched in Game 1, taking over Hunter Elliott’s spot due to injury.
It wasn’t particularly smooth sailing for the junior pitcher. Dougherty faced some difficulties pitching against the Maryland hitters.
Through four innings pitched, Dougherty gave up six hits, three earned runs, two walks and collected three strikeouts.
“Very average stuff tonight,” head coach Mike Bianco said about Dougherty’s performance after Game 1. “He just got himself in trouble … just put himself in some bad counts and some bad positions there.”
On the other side of things, the Ole Miss bats couldn’t find any rhythm. They had a hard time seeing Maryland’s starting pitcher Jason Savacool.
The right-hander pitched seven innings, gave up five hits, two runs (unearned) and struck out nine Rebel batters.
“Yeah, obviously he (Savacool) threw really really well for Maryland tonight,” catcher Calvin Harris said about the team’s offensive struggles during Game 1. “It’s just one of those nights. We didn’t have good at-bats when we needed to and grind out at-bats when we needed to.”
The Terrapins defeated the Rebels 9-2 to take the first game of the series.
Ole Miss hoped to turn the page and tie the series up at one apiece.
Freshman right-hander Grayson Saunier was on the mound for Game 2, and just like Dougherty the night before, Saunier had his struggles against Maryland.
Saunier pitched for just 2.2 innings, gave up two hits, two runs (one earned), three walks and four strikeouts.
Bianco took Saunier out because the freshman was driving up his pitch count (72), consistently finding himself pitching to batters in full counts.
“Just really not him,” Bianco said about Saunier’s Game 2 outing. “Didn’t have his best stuff. But one of the bright spots is he didn’t allow it to blow up on him. He left the game with two runs and as poorly as he pitched, that doesn’t happen much.”
But on the other side of the plate, Ole Miss was the polar opposite with the bats compared to Game 1.
The Rebels tallied 14 hits and multiple guys had a multi-hit game including Jacob Gonzalez, Ethan Groff, Anthony Calarco and Ethan Lege.
Gonzalez and Groff each had three hits during the afternoon.
It really was a rollercoaster of emotions kind of game for both Ole Miss and Maryland fans.
The Rebels scored quickly thanks to an RBI-double by Kemp Alderman in the first inning to take a 1-0 lead. Maryland would then answer back with a run of their own in the second inning.
In the bottom of the second, the Rebels took back the lead because of Gonzalez’s RBI-single. But just like in the previous innings, Maryland would match it in the next inning.
In the fifth inning, Maryland scored three runs because of six consecutive walks given up by Ole Miss pitchers. In what felt like a nightmare of an inning for the Rebels, Maryland was up 5-4.
Fast forward to the seventh inning and the Rebels find themselves with the bases loaded with two outs down 6-5 with Gonzalez at the plate.
The shortstop came in clutch, hitting a two-run single to give the lead back to the Rebels. In the eighth inning, Calarco hit a two-run home run over the right field wall and it was all Ole Miss from there.
The Rebels defeated the Terrapins 12-6 to even the series.
“You gotta stay locked in,” Groff said about Game 2’s back-and-forth battle. “In games like this, they’re long, and it’s really about who can focus for longer. And whoever makes a mistake first usually loses. So, we stuck with it and they made some mistakes.”
Xavier Rivas was the starting pitcher for the Rebels for Sunday’s series finale.
Like the Rebel starting pitchers the previous two games, Rivas had some trouble against the Terrapin bats.
Through just 3.2 innings of work, the left-hander allowed six hits, six earned runs including three home runs and four walks.
He did get five strikeouts and the win, but a common theme for Ole Miss pitchers that’d been recurring over the weekend is giving up too many walks.
“We’re still trying to figure it out,” Bianco said after Game 3 about the team’s pitching struggles. “We’ve gotta attack the strike zone more.”
But on the other hand, it seemed like nothing was going to prevent the Ole Miss batters from hitting the ball out of the park.
There were a total of 10 home runs between both teams. Ole Miss hit six, three of those coming in the third inning.
Before fans could even settle into their seats, Gonzalez got the party started with a lead-off home run over the right field wall.
Move on to the third inning and second baseman Peyton Chatagnier, Harris and right fielder TJ McCants hit home runs.
McCants hadn’t been with the team the previous two games due to the passing of his grandmother. So this home run had to feel good for him.
“Your heart breaks for him and his family,” Bianco said about McCants. “I don’t know how many kids can go through what he’s gone through and be able to bounce back and be able to play as well as he has.”
Harris had a great day at the plate. He went 4-for-5 with 8 RBIs and two home runs that included a walk-off grand slam in the seventh inning to give Ole Miss an 18-8 run-rule victory.
As much as they’ve had a lot of success at the plate during the series, they know that they need some work on the pitching side of things.
Over the three-game series, Ole Miss pitchers allowed 23 runs, 28 hits and gave up a combined 22 walks.
But the Rebels were also able to be resilient and battle it out towards the end of an up-and-down kind of weekend.
“One of the reasons that we scheduled a really good team like Maryland is to be challenged,” Bianco said after the series. “Certainly, that was the challenge this weekend starting with Friday night.”
Bianco went on to say, “These are the weekends that make you grow up a little bit.”
Ole Miss hosts Louisiana Tech (4-3) on Tuesday, Feb. 28 at 4 p.m. CST on SEC Network+.
