Around the Horn: Observations from Ole Miss' Sweep of VCU

Welcome to "Around the Horn," a weekly piece from The Grove Report that analyzes the weekend series from Ole Miss baseball.

The Rebels this week are fresh off a two-game sweep of Virginia Commonwealth, and although Saturday's game was canceled due to rain, we saw some more storylines unfold at Swayze Field for No. 3 Ole Miss.

VCU was a regional team a season ago, making it to the Starkville Regional where it was ultimately eliminated. The Rams also won the Atlantic 10 regular season and tournament titles in 2021.

Needless to say, they weren't exactly a "pushover," although Ole Miss did show that it was the better team over the weekend.

Let's look at some of the key takeaways from this weekend's action in Oxford.

1. Different Stars Shine Nightly in the Rebel Offense

On Friday night, Kevin Graham and Calvin Harris (playing in place of the injured Hayden Dunhurst) were the leaders in the offensive clubhouse. On Sunday, Tim Elko, Jacob Gonzalez and even Tywone Malone were the heroes with the long ball.

Coming into the season, the offense was clearly going to be the strength of this team, and it has proven to be so through six games. The Rebels have scored 10 or more runs in all of its games except for their 9-3 win over Charleston Southern on Opening Day. Since then, Ole Miss has won three games via run rule and one 10-run win over Arkansas State that was called due to rain.

The offense is on fire early, but its competition will soon stiffen.

2. The Defense Hasn't Been Good

Through six games, Ole Miss has committed 11 errors. Fortunately for the Rebels, their opponents have also combined for 11 errors, so it hasn't been as noticeable as it could have been.

Still, as the calendar turns to March, that's a trend that has to be remedied.

Errors in the first inning of Sunday's game came back to bite Ole Miss as VCU pushed across three runs to take an early lead. Even though the offense was able to climb out of that hole rather quickly, if this team wants to reach its full potential this season, the errors have to be slimmed down.

It's early, so it's not fair to write home a ton about this trend, but it is a problem we've seen to this point.

3. Hello, Tywone Malone

Malone got his first two at bats in a Rebel uniform this weekend: one on Friday and one on Sunday.

The one on Friday night wasn't much to write home about. Malone struck out, but he didn't look lost at the plate despite having missed fall ball due to playing football.

On Sunday, he for sure didn't look lost.

Malone capped off Ole Miss' run-rule win over VCU on Sunday with a two-run shot to right field in the seventh inning. We've seen what power he has in intrasquad games, but this is the first time he's put it on display against an opponent, and it was certainly special to watch.

You asked, we answered.@TywoneMalone | #HottyToddy pic.twitter.com/lceyrKCJiy
— Ole Miss Baseball (@OleMissBSB) February 27, 2022

"It felt amazing," Malone said. "It was just an amazing feeling to come out and swing it and finally get one. It was a fastball outside, and I knew I could handle it. I just put the barrel out there and let the bat do the rest."

Ole Miss will stay at home on Tuesday and Wednesday to take on Louisiana-Monroe before traveling for its first road test of the season next weekend at UCF.

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