Three Takeaways From Ole Miss' Weekend Sweep of Charleston Southern

Ole Miss is the newly-christened No. 3 team in the country according to D1Baseball after the Rebels swept Charleston Southern on opening weekend.

Although the Buccaneers are not considered one of college baseball's best teams in 2022, this was our first look at Ole Miss' potential entering this season. Here are three takeaways from the weekend of action that saw the Rebels outscore Charleston Southern 32-6 in the series.

1. Tim Elko is, in fact, 100 percent.

If you didn't believe it before opening day, you should now.

Elko has stated that he is back to "100 percent" health after his ACL tear last season that sidelined him for a while before his return to a designated hitter role. Against Charleston Southern, Elko hit .333 with an OBP of 1.500. His two home runs were the most by a single Rebel over the series, and he drove home four runs.

There was also a play over the weekend where Elko dove back to the first base bag to beat a runner for an out, so his range of motion appears to be normal.

"The Captain," as he is dubbed by Ole Miss fans, put on a show last season with just one functioning ACL, and it appears that he may already be in midseason form here in February.

2. Early returns on John Gaddis are positive.

The biggest question entering this season for Ole Miss was how it was planning to replace Doug Nikhazy and Gunnar Hoglund in its starting rotation. While those questions may not be put entirely to rest, John Gaddis showed promising potential on the mound on Saturday.

Gaddis threw four innings of one-run ball in Ole Miss' 11-1 win over Charleston Southern, and the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi transfer shared what brought him to Ole Miss following the win.

"I want to play in Omaha my last year of college," Gaddis said, "and with them returning every hitter from last year, I think this is the best place to do that."

These are lofty expectations from the Rebel left-hander, but he showed that he has some strong stuff on opening weekend. It's early in the season, so it will be important to see if that trend continues in the weeks to come.

3. The bullpen's depth showed over the weekend.

Counting starters, Ole Miss threw 11 different arms in the series against Charleston Southern, but Riley Maddox, Jack Washburn and Hunter Elliott garnered the most attention out of the bullpen among newcomers. None of those three allowed an earned run in their outings, and Bianco came away especially impressed with Maddox's work on Saturday.

"If he can do that, that's pretty special," Bianco said. "These kids dream about playing here, but it's different when you put the uniform on and run out in front of that many people. He was terrific today."

Jack Washburn is slated to start on Tuesday for Ole Miss when it hosts Arkansas State unless the rain in the area postpones the game. The Oregon State transfer was also in the running for a weekend rotation spot entering this season, so that will be something to keep an eye on as well.

In all, it's just one non-conference series, but Ole Miss fans should feel pleased with what they saw on opening weekend and have some hope that these trends will continue moving forward.

Photos courtesy of Ole Miss Athletics.

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