Around The Horn: Three Observations From Ole Miss’ Series Win Over Kentucky

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- No. 10 Ole Miss picked up its second SEC series win over the weekend, both of which have come on the road.

The Rebels knocked off Kentucky 2-1 on Friday, fell 9-2 on Saturday, and won 10-1 on Sunday to secure the series win. Every arm who started for the Rebels over the weekend garnered their first weekend start on the hill in a Rebel uniform this season.

Here are three takeaways from the Rebels' weekend on the diamond.

1. A possible starting rotation has emerged.

Hunter Elliott

It took until the third weekend of league play, but this series in Lexington was Ole Miss' brightest of the season so far from a starting pitching perspective.

Dylan DeLucia, Hunter Elliott and Jack Washburn combined to surrender a mere four runs over the course of the weekend, only one of which was earned. As mentioned above, none of these three arms had a weekend start prior to this series, and all three were able to get into at least the fifth inning. Hunter Elliott's outing of 4.1 IP was the shortest of the weekend.

The bullpen struggled on Saturday, and along with the lackluster offensive performance, that allowed Kentucky to break game two open in the later innings. Even so, the starting pitching was one of the Rebels' biggest flaws entering this series, so much so that Mike Bianco completely revamped his rotation. Early returns suggest that this mixture might pay off.

2. The offense struggled most of the weekend, but it found its groove again on Sunday.

Kevin Graham

In one sense, Ole Miss is still playing the waiting game as far as Kevin Graham's return to the batting order is concerned. On the other, there are enough talented bats in this lineup that it shouldn't be that large of an issue.

Sunday's game was very positive for the Ole Miss offense, scoring 10 runs on 13 hits, but in the other two games, the Rebels only put up a combined four runs on nine hits. That trend has to change.

Maybe Sunday was the start of that change. No offense in baseball will score 10-plus runs every game, but the bats are the strength of this team on paper. If the Rebels want to reach their goals in 2022, that strength will have to show itself throughout conference play.

3. The Rebels have to take advantage of this stretch on its conference schedule. This weekend was a step in the right direction.

After being swept by Tennessee last weekend, Ole Miss now more than ever needs to make some hay over the next few weekends in SEC play.

The Rebels will play host to Alabama next weekend before traveling to South Carolina and hosting Mississippi State. All three of these are winnable series, and each conference win is precious as far as regional hosting sites are concerned. Ole Miss currently sits at 4-5 in SEC play, but winning this weekend in Lexington was a step in the right direction after a nightmarish weekend against the Volunteers.

Now, it just has to continue that momentum.

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