Jacob Gonzalez Provides Offense in USA's Walk-Off Win Over The Netherlands
Ole Miss Rebels shortstop Jacob Gonzalez provided the offensive spark for the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team on Tuesday, hitting a walk-off, run-rule double in the Americans' win over The Netherlands.
Gonzalez was responsible for a solo home run alongside the walk-off double, and he drove home three runs for the United States in the 10-0 win.
Gonzalez is in The Netherlands along with his head coach Mike Bianco and teammate Hunter Elliott, both of whom earned postseason accolades from D1Baseball after the Ole Miss national championship.
In Bianco's 22 seasons with the Rebels, he has coached them to 18 NCAA Tournament appearances, eight Super Regional appearances, and two College World Series visits. Bianco is also the third-winningest coach in SEC baseball history with 854 career wins behind Ron Polk and Skip Bertman.
Bianco made all of the right calls regarding the pitching staff when the Rebels were in a midseason slump. One of those decisions was to promote Elliott from the bullpen to the starting rotation, a choice that paid off for both the coach and true freshman southpaw.
Elliott was a crucial part of the Ole Miss championship run, only allowing four earned runs in four starts during the NCAA Tournament, and has now earned his third Freshman All-American nod for his role in the postseason.
In his freshman year, Elliott recorded a 2.70 ERA and 102 strikeouts in 80 innings pitched. Elliott's ERA ranked third in the SEC and his strikeout total was the sixth most in the conference.
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