Ole Miss Wins Series, Splits Doubleheader With Oral Roberts

OXFORD, Miss. -- After Saturday's game was postponed due to inclement weather, No. 2 Ole Miss split its doubleheader with Oral Roberts on Sunday, securing a series win while losing the finale.

In game one of the seven-inning twin bill, Ole Miss picked up a 6-2 win with Derek Diamond earning the decision. The Rebels had home runs from Tim Elko and TJ McCants in the win, and McCants and Hayden Dunhurst both had two RBIs.

"I thought he was as good as he's been all year," Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco said of Diamond. "I thought he located much better today against a really good offense. Derek really kept them at bay and controlled the game."

"People have been telling me I looked a little different, but I felt the same," Diamond said. "I was just a little sharper. I threw all four pitches today and where I wanted. My misses were good misses."

The other end of the tape came in the second game on Sunday where Ole Miss starter Jack Dougherty lasted only 2.2 innings and struggled with some command early in an 8-4 loss.

The Rebels were down 4-0 early before scoring four runs in the bottom of the third to tie the game. After that flurry, however, Oral Roberts scored one run in the fourth and three in the sixth to pull away.

"When you start getting in more two and three-ball counts, they got some good swings off," Bianco said, "and they get back into the game. You saw that a lot in the second game today."

Bianco also discussed what could have caused some of Dougherty's issues in his first start of the season.

"He's a strike-throwing machine," Bianco said, "and when he misses, he misses up which works in his favor. It's been a long layoff with tendinitis in his shoulder, but it's uncharacteristic of him to be behind in the count."

Offensively, although the Rebels were able to come through with some big hits in game one and score four runs in a single inning in game two, the at bats were not as strong as they had been in recent games.

"I thought it was all day long," Bianco said. "They're not always going to score 10 runs, but even in game one, we had some really poor at bats, and the same thing happened in game two. Just not enough constant pressure throughout the day."

Ole Miss now will travel to face Southeastern Louisiana in the midweek before traveling to Auburn to open conference play on Thursday.

"Non-conference is to get a feel for the team and yourself, so I think it's been perfect," Diamond said. "The fun starts next week."

Want the latest in breaking news and insider information on the Rebels? Click Here.

Follow The Grove Report On Facebook and Twitter.