It appears that whatever transpired during the final innings of Sunday’s game against Tennessee has carried over into this week, affecting No. 11 Ole Miss as they failed to resemble the squad that was mere outs away from clinching victory against two top-tier teams.
The team suffered another perplexing defeat with their 3-2 loss against South Carolina on Thursday, which follows closely after they lost to Little Rock 7-3 during Tuesday’s Kids’ Day game.
Both matches that appeared winnable on both theoretical and practical grounds ended up as defeats for the Rebels (27-11, 9-7 Southeastern Conference), who have now lost four out of their last five games.
What occurred in Columbia at Founder’s Park could only be described as
An infraction that remained hidden after its vanishing act in Oxford on Tuesday.
Brandon Stone of South Carolina secured a complete-game victory, surpassing his previous longest outing of five innings this season, which came during his fourth start overall. He limited Ole Miss to just two runs on six hits and managed to accomplish this feat with merely 86 pitches across nine innings.
The rebels failed to get on base eleven times through strikeouts and managed only one walk, failing to put consistent pressure or engage in prolonged plate appearances exceeding four to five pitches. Their two scores came from solo home runs: catcher Austin Fawley hit his in the third inning, followed by outfielder Mitchell Sanford’s in the sixth inning, respectively.
Clearly, it wasn’t a good evening for our batting performance,” remarked Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco during his postgame radio interview. “We need to aim for more hits. Even though we managed a few home runs, we didn’t have enough baserunners tonight.
Throughout the whole game, Ole Miss left two runners stranded each time and failed to get a hit when runners were in scoring position, going 0-for-2. When they had runners on base at any point, the team managed only one hit out of five attempts.
Starter Hunter Elliott performed better this time compared to his previous outings. Although he pitched into the sixth inning, he was unable to complete it, falling just short of matching his longest start of the season if he had lasted longer.
Rather than South Carolina (22-17, 3-13), who managed to score three runs against him with six hits over 5.1 innings pitched. Elliott recorded five strikeouts but also gave up a walk, leading Bianco to replace him with relief pitcher Mason Morris from the bullpen.
Morris once again appeared as one of the top pitching options, including among starters, for an additional week. He pitched the last 2.2 innings without conceding any runs, fanning six Gamecock hitters and refraining from walking anyone.
After the match, Elliott stated, ‘The walks were beneficial, but I believe I failed to deliver crucial pitches when it truly mattered.’ He continued, ‘I couldn’t place my pitches where I intended. This ultimately led to my downfall. Throughout most of the evening, I was doing quite well staying ahead. My strategy at the start was solid; however, they came prepared with an effective approach as well.’
Ole Miss aims to tie up the series on Friday when they take the field at 3 p.m. CT, with coverage available on SEC Network+.
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No. 11 Ole Miss fails to score in series-starting defeat against South Carolina
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