Three Takeaways From Ole Miss' Series Loss to Florida
OXFORD, Miss. -- The defending national champions have gotten off to a poor start in conference play and remain winless versus SEC opponents after the No. 3 Florida Gators swept the No. 13 Ole Miss Rebels at home over the weekend.
The Rebels now own a 15-9 record and are ironically tied with the Mississippi State Bulldogs for dead last in the Southeastern Conference, as both programs have posted 0-6 records in SEC play through two weeks.
Despite their historically slow start, the Rebels do not need to panic just yet, but they will need to address their weaknesses sooner rather than later as their schedule only gets tougher down the stretch.
These are my biggest takeaways from a disappointing weekend of Ole Miss baseball.
1. Hunter Elliott, Josh Mallitz, and Riley Maddox are Greatly Missed
The injury bug has hit Ole Miss' pitching staff hard this season.
The Rebels were only able to get 5.0 innings out of their sophomore ace Hunter Elliott before the lefty was sidelined due to a sprained UCL, while relief pitchers Josh Mallitz and Riley Maddox have not taken the mound once.
Ole Miss coach Mike Bianco has been forced to throw veteran reliever Jack Dougherty on Fridays, followed by freshman Greyson Saunier and former transfer Xavier Rivas.
On paper, that is a pretty inexperienced starting rotation. Despite being a junior and having started games in the postseason, Dougherty likely did not imagine he would be thrust into the No. 1 spot this early in the season. Saunier has amazing stuff and shows flashes, but he and Rivas are both still getting acclimated to SEC hitting.
With Dougherty in the starting rotation and Mallitz and Maddox out for the foreseeable future, the bullpen's veteran presence now comes from sophomore Mason Nichols who has posted a 12.46 ERA versus conference opponents.
Until reinforcements arrive, or improvements are made, Ole Miss will be relying heavily on its bats to win games.
2. The Bats are Heating Up (Sort of)
While the pitching was suboptimal, the bats put Ole Miss in favorable positions multiple times.
After getting outscored by the Vanderbilt Commodores 27-2 to open SEC play, the Rebels got out to an early 5-2 lead on Saturday before the Gators knocked in two solo home runs and five total RBIs to secure game 1.
Overall, the Rebels did a good job at stringing together hits in critical moments, but they struggled to connect on the long ball and did not get any help from their pitching staff. As a team, Florida mashed 10 home runs while Ole Miss only mustered one shower in right field.
3. Redemption is Around the Corner
Beginning SEC play with zero wins is not ideal, but if last season taught Ole Miss fans anything, it's that this team is never out of a fight. Fortunately for the Rebels, their next weekend opponent is also struggling out the gate in conference play.
The Texas A&M Aggies are just ahead of Ole Miss in the conference standings with an overall record of 15-9 and a conference record of 1-5. In spite of this being a road matchup for the Rebels, I expect Ole Miss to pick up its first SEC series win of the season versus Texas A&M.
The Aggie offense has struggled to hit home runs this spring, only raking in 21 bombs since the season started. No one on the Texas A&M roster has notched more than four homers so far.
You can follow Ben King on Twitter at @BKing_2023.
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