Heading to Hoover

Posted on May 20, 2013 by Parrish Alford — No Comments ↓

The SEC baseball tournament begins tomorrow in Hoover, Ala.

There’s one less baseball coach in the league right now since Georgia has parted ways with David Perno, according to reports. Here’s the link. Ole Miss assistant Cliff Godwin is one of many names tossed about Baseball America’s Aaron Fitt as a possible replacement for Perno. So is Mississippi State assistant Butch Thompson. Fitt also suggests that Georgia could throw a lot of money at baseball and hire an established head coach — like Virginia’s Brian O’Connor or Louisville’s Dan McDonnell, the former Mike Bianco assistant.

Bianco and the Rebels take on Kentucky tomorrow at 9:30, the first game of the tournament.

Ole Miss coach Mike Bianco

Bianco will name a starting pitcher later today. Kentucky on Sunday announced it would go with senior left-hander Jerad Grundy (6-5, 4.75), who was recently moved down from an SEC starter’s role for the Wildcats.

Grundy was the only UK pitcher to lose against Ole Miss this year, the pitcher of record when the Rebels won 11-5 in the middle game in Oxford. Grundy gave up nine runs and 12 hits in 5.2 innings in that game and in two career starts against is 0-2 with a 13.06 ERA with 15 runs in 10.1 innings.

Here’s more on Grundy and the Wildcats.

In other news …

The Ferriss Trophy winner will be announced this morning. Ole Miss has two of the five finalists, pitcher Bobby Wahl and catcher Stuart Turner, neither of which had memorable weekends at LSU in the final regular season series.

Wahl lasted just 2.2 innings and gave up six earned runs in his shorted start of the season. He went into the series leading SEC starters in ERA. Now he’s third at 1.99.

LSU did a good job of pitching around Turner in three games, and his batting average dipped from .389 to .377 heading to Hoover.

Ole Miss closer Brett Huber got the save in Saturday’s win, his 12^th of the season, tying his season-high set in 2010. He has 38 career saves, third on the SEC list.

The Rebels’ hottest hitter in Baton Rouge was senior outfielder Tanner Mathis. He struggled most of the regular season but hit .700 in four games over the past weekend. He had four walks and two HBPs for an on-base percentage of .813.

Mathis was the hottest hitter in postseason last year, so maybe he’s warming up again.

Tagged with: Bobby Wahl, Brett Huber, Kentucky baseball, Mike Bianco, ole miss, SEC baseball, SEC Tournament, Stuart Turner, Tanner Mathis
Posted in Baseball

SEC Tournament schedule

Posted on May 18, 2013 by Parrish Alford — 1 Comment ↓

Tuesday’s Games

9:30 a.m. – No. 6 Ole Miss vs. No. 11 Kentucky

TBD – No. 7 Alabama vs. No. 10 Auburn

4:30 p.m. – No. 8 Florida vs. No. 9 Texas A&M

TBD – No. 5 Mississippi State vs. No. 12 Missouri

Wednesday’s Games

9:30 a.m. – Ole Miss-Kentucky winners vs. No. 3 Arkansas

TBD – Alabama-Auburn winner vs. No. 2 LSU

4:30 p.m. – Florida-Texas A&M winner vs. No. 1 Vanderbilt

TBD – Mississippi State-Missouri winner vs. No. 4 South Carolina

Complete tournament pairings

Posted in Baseball

Ole Miss 11, LSU 9

Posted on May 18, 2013 by Parrish Alford — 3 Comments ↓

If you’ve been following along on the blog you may have seen me hammer on the Ole Miss bullpen of late.

Well, the Rebels can thank their bullpen for helping them not get swept in Baton Rouge. Just following along in the box score it looks like the bullpen was not spectacular but was much more efficient than it has been.

Friday Morning Update

Posted on May 17, 2013 by Parrish Alford — 5 Comments ↓

Just a note to say I’ll be away from the blog for most of today and the weekend.

Tonight is Tupelo High School graduation, an event which this year includes our daughter, Emily Alford.

We will have family coming and going. Part of today’s plan included driving my mother to Oxford and just letting her see the Square and the campus, but the weather has changed that plan.

Good day to all, and I will check in later.

Posted in Football

LSU 7, Ole Miss 1

Posted on May 16, 2013 by Parrish Alford — No Comments ↓

The Tigers score twice in the first and stretched the lead to 5-0 before Ole Miss got on the board in the seventh.

Ole Miss out-hit LSU 11-10, but the Tigers had four home runs.

Tanner Mathis led Ole Miss with a 4-for-4 night at the plate and scored the Rebels’ only run.

Mike Mayers went six innings and gave up five runs, all earned, on seven hits, one walk and seven strikeouts.

Hawtin Buchanan was the second of three pitchers and in one inning gave up two runs on three hits and a walk.

Scott Weathersby pitched an inning and allowed no runs, no hits, one walk. He did allow an inherited runner to score.

Game 2 is Friday night at 7.

Posted in Baseball

Standing behind bullpen

Posted on May 16, 2013 by Parrish Alford — 1 Comment ↓

LSU feels it has nothing left to prove in the regular season. That may be the case for the Tigers, who will sit their ace this weekend, but that isn’t the case for Ole Miss, which can improve its postseason seeding.

Success in Baton Rouge will depend on the bullpen at some point over the next three games. Ole Miss starting pitchers have been pretty good of late. Mike Mayers and Sam Smith in today’s update from the Mother Ship express confidence that the bullpen can be pretty good too.

Tagged with: LSU, Mike Bianco, Mike Mayers, ole miss, Sam Smith, SEC baseball
Posted in Baseball

Ole Miss, LSU series notes

Posted on May 16, 2013 by Parrish Alford — No Comments ↓

The Ole Miss-LSU series begins tonight, the final SEC regular season series.

I often joke with Ole Miss coach Mike Bianco about getting “misty-eyed” when he plays LSU in Baton Rouge.

From The Baton Rouge Advocate, LSU will honor its 1993 College World Series-winning team this weekend. Bianco was an assistant on that team, his first of five seasons on the staff of his alma mater.

He points out its been 16 years since he got a paycheck from LSU.

No doubt he’ll at least step from the visiting dugout and tip his cap when the names of the 1993 team are called.

Elsewhere … Freshman outfielder Mark Laird has been a key component of LSU’s success, and he may be getting his second wind. …

Bianco tells NOLA.com, that Ole Miss must play with a sense of urgency at LSU even though there’s less urgency on the part of the Tigers, who will not pitch ace Aaron Nola in the series.

LSU outfielder Raph Rhymes takes note of the Rebels’ starting pitchers and says the Tigers will have to “scratch and claw” for runs against Ole Miss.

Posted in Baseball

After Spring: Five focus points

Posted on May 15, 2013 by Parrish Alford — 1 Comment ↓

Five areas of focus for Ole Miss heading into August camp:

Offensive Line: Four starters return here. There are pros and cons to that statement. The experience is welcome, but these guys have to protect the passer better. The Rebels ranked No. 97 last year in sacks allowed at 2.62 per game.

They also need to improve their physicality in short-yardage situations.

Hugh Freeze has always said the offensive line would be the last to “get it” regarding the up-tempo offense.

Having spent a year in the system should help. However, Freeze is hopeful that several freshmen will play, and those guys haven’t spent a year in the system. Nor a spring.

Cornerback: The Nick Brassell question remains unanswered at this time. If Brassell qualifies academically the Rebels have three pretty solid corners. Senquez Golson is more athletic than Charles Sawyer, but Sawyer’s wealth of experience is very important.

Brassell has been called an “NFL corner” by Freeze.

Ole Miss quarterback Bo Wallace

The three of them make a nice rotation, but if there’s an injury or two, the depth behind them is not at the same level.

Reduce turnovers: This is about interceptions. Ole Miss fumbled 11 times and ranked No. 63 in the nation in turnover margin. Nineteen teams that ranked ahead of Ole Miss in turnover margin had as many or more fumbles.

Many of Bo Wallace’s 17 interceptions last year were a result of decision-making. A number of factors go into this. One, Wallace needs to understand when a play is over. He got better at that last year, and you saw him throw balls away to get to the next play. Another factor in decision-making is trust in your offensive line. Sometimes that trust wasn’t rewarded.

There’s a lot to consider before pulling the trigger, and this is where Wallace would have benefited from live action in the spring.

The Schedule: Never have seven wins been celebrated like Ole Miss enjoyed a 7-6 season a year ago. On the surface some may think that silly, but anyone who watched this program in 2010 and 2011 understood the joy.

Freeze has spent the off-season trying to manage expectations. Talking points shifted from “wilderness” to “journey” on the recently concluded Rebel Road Trip.

It’s a wise approach.

While the Rebels got better last year, others will get better this year. If you stand still in the SEC you fall behind, and Arkansas and Auburn, with splashy new head coach hires, are trying hard not to do that.

Auburn, in fact, is a prime candidate to be this year’s “Ole Miss,” the team that exceeds projections and expectations. The Tigers have recruited well through the years, and many players on the roster were signed to run the Gus Malzahn offense, not the offense Gene Chizik tried to run last year.

Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze gets dunked after the Rebels’ 38-17 win over Pittsburgh in the BBVA Compass Bowl NCAA college football game against Pittsburgh at Legion Field in Birmingham, Ala., Saturday, Jan. 5, 2013. (AP Photo/Dave Martin)

The problem with the schedule is four out of five road games to start the year. Three of those teams (Vanderbilt, Texas and Alabama) combined for 31 wins last year, and the other is Auburn. The only hiccup in that stretch is a Week 2 home game against Southeast Missouri State.

After that stretch the Rebels don’t leave the state of Mississippi. They play six straight home games and close at Mississippi State, but that home stretch includes Texas A&M and LSU back-to-back at the beginning of the six-game stretch.

The Rebels will have to be a good road team early, or they will be climbing uphill in the quest for bowl-eligibility.

The Signing Class: This is another area for Freeze to manage expectations. A consensus top 10 group made national news for Ole Miss and has the fan base buzzing with excitement. Many newcomers will have to help in a number of areas. Freeze will have to take a long hard look his new players and decide who is truly ready to help.

Guys like Robert Nkemdiche, Laquon Treadwell, Laremy Tunsil and the many others will have to successfully acclimate to new surroundings. Former Georgia coach Jim Donnan used to call it the “de-recruiting” process. They will need to stay focused when climbing the depth chart becomes a little harder than they were accustomed to in high school.

Tagged with: After Spring, Bo Wallace, Hugh Freeze, Laquon Treadwell, Laremy Tunsil, Nick Brassell, ole miss, Robert Nkemdiche, SEC football, Senquez Golson
Posted in Football

Elevating the offense

Posted on May 15, 2013 by Parrish Alford — 1 Comment ↓

Mike Bianco mentioned to us earlier this year that when one phase is struggling you need to win with other phases.

For Ole Miss most of this season that’s been pitching and defense. There have been occasional bursts of offense like the 10 runs in a 10-8 win over Mississippi State in last Saturday’s second game.

The bullpen has some issues right now, and the Rebels need to find those bursts of offense more often. Last night was not a good start.

From the Mother Ship, today’s column.

Tagged with: LSU, Mike Bianco, ole miss, Paul Mainieri, SEC baseball
Posted in Baseball

About Last Night

Posted on May 15, 2013 by Parrish Alford — 1 Comment ↓

Southern Miss steamrolled Ole Miss 10-3 as the Rebels closed out their non-conference schedule.

A few pitching thoughts here. The Golden Eagles had 16 hits. For the most part it was experimentation night for Ole Miss coach Mike Bianco.

Freshman Jacob Waguespack got the start. He had pitched only 6.1 innings over four relief appearances going into the game. He gave up four hits over three innings, but two of his hits allowed were back-to-back singles to lead off the fourth inning. He did not record an out in the fourth.

So for three innings Waguespack allowed no runs, no walks and two hits. That’s an encouraging since for a team looking for bullpen depth.

The three pitchers after Waguespack were all players who have pitched little this season, and Austin Blunt, Hawtin Buchanan and Scott Ashford were not effective last night.

The disappointing sign was that Josh Laxer, who had been pretty good as a mid-week starter, gave up six hits — one of them a triple — over 2.1 innings. With postseason arriving and the different roles created for pitchers during that time the Rebels need Laxer to step forward not backward.

All five Ole Miss pitchers allowed two earned runs.

Offensively the Rebels managed just six hits and have now had just 11 hits over their last two games after a much more productive outing in Game 2 against Mississippi State.

Austin Anderson had a double, but there were just five singles beyond that.

With bullpen issues Ole Miss is going to have to do more in other phases — most notably offense — to have success against LSU in Baton Rouge in the final SEC series which begins Thursday.

That’s the subject of today’s column in the mother ship which I will post here later today.

Tagged with: Jacob Waguespack, LSU, Mike Bianco, ole miss, SEC baseball, Southern Miss
Posted in Baseball

Ole Miss basketball to face Kansas State

Posted on May 14, 2013 by Parrish Alford — No Comments ↓

It was a Kansas State loss in Kansas City that set the Rebels up against La Salle, a less hostile environment than they would have otherwise faced in the Round of 32.

- PA

From media relations

OXFORD – Ole Miss will take on Big 12 power Kansas State in men’s hoops next season, as the matchups for the inaugural Big 12/SEC Challenge were announced on Tuesday.

The Rebels will travel to Manhattan, Kan., on Dec. 5 to face the Wildcats, who lost to La Salle in the second round of the 2013 NCAA Tournament. Ole Miss and Kansas State met three times from 2001-09 with the Rebels claiming all three contests, including a 67-65 win in Manhattan in 2001. Ole Miss head coach Andy Kennedy is 1-0 versus the Wildcats with an 86-74 win in Puerto Rico in 2009.

All 10 of the Big 12’s teams and 10 of the SEC’s 14 member institutions will participate in the annual event. Arkansas, Georgia, LSU and Tennessee will not play in the first year. ESPN will provide exclusive coverage of all 10 games across its networks.

Eight of the 10 games in the 2013 event will be played at home sites (each conference has four home games) and two matchups will be at neutral sites.

Posted in Basketball

After Spring: Special Teams

Posted on May 14, 2013 by Parrish Alford — No Comments ↓

A Hugh Freeze gamble a year in the making will be put in play this season with the Ole Miss kicker and punter.

Freeze redshirted two seniors last year, including Tyler Campbell, a versatile and strong-legged punter who was the NCAA’s statistical champion as a sophomore with a 46.4-yard average.

That average dipped to 43.6 as a junior in 2011, but Campbell added a different style to his game. The previous staff worked with Campbell on what is known as the rugby punt, rolling out and punting on the run. The goal was to get a bounce-and-roll and improve the net punting, and in 2011 Campbell was second in the SEC with 28 punts downed inside the 20.

Campbell has the ability to flip the field, and the punting for Ole Miss seems to be in good hands … or feet.

Kicking is a bit more unknown. Freeze also redshirted Andrew Ritter, who had been the team’s kickoff specialist for three seasons. The Rebels were set with Bryson Rose with the placement kicks, and the hope is that Ritter will be able to provide the consistency that Rose did or close to it.

In the Grove Bowl he was on from close in but not from farther out and will have to contend with freshman Andy Pappanastos, a three-time all-state kicker who holds Alabama’s record for field goals made in a career.

While we chatted on the sideline during a spring workout Rose expressed confidence in Ritter.

Beyond kicker and punter the Rebels could really use some help in kick and punt returns and in defending both. The Rebels were 12th in the SEC in kick returns with a 20.0-yard average, last in punt returns with only a 5.6-yard average.

Opponent returns were a problem. LSU’s Odell Beckham returned a punt 89 yards for a touchdown in the fourth quarter of a game the Rebels lost by six points.

MSU’s Jameon Lewis returned a kick 100 yards for a touchdown.

Both of those returns were late in the season. Freeze said lack of depth often showed up on special teams with the number of starters or key players he had to use on those units.

While many folks are looking for immediate help from the signing class, most of that help could come on special teams where it could make large yet subtle contributions.

Jaylen Walton handled most of Ole Miss’ kick returns last year with 26 for a 24.7-yard average. No one else came close to 20 yards on average. Carlos Davis, a walk-on running back, I’Tavius Mathers and Jeff Scott combined for 10 kick returns.

Korvic Neat averaged 5.1 yards on 16 punt returns with a long of 19.

Freeze clearly wanted to take some pressure off Scott, who returned punts just twice in 2012 and averaged 11 yards. Scott had early punt return success in 2011 before teams started kicking away from him. He finished his sophomore year with eight returns for 138 yards — a 17.25-yard average — and a 67-yard touchdown.

Quadarias Mireles will get a look in the return game, as will Nick Brassell if he is academically eligible.

Tagged with: Hugh Freeze, ole miss, SEC, special teams
Posted in Football

Pitching shuffle for Ole Miss, LSU

Posted on May 14, 2013 by Parrish Alford — 1 Comment ↓

Ole Miss will have its regular three SEC starters all pitching at LSU this week in the final regular season SEC series.

Those three starters will be in different spots, however, not only because the series will run Thursday through Saturday.

The rainout of Game 1 of the Mississippi State series and Bobby Wahl’s subsequent start in Sunday’s Game 3 has the Rebels’ ace unavailable for the SEC series opener. So he will again start Game 3, this time on Saturday.

Monday afternoon LSU coach Paul Mainieri announced that he would rest his ace, sophomore Aaron Nola, for the Ole Miss series. Here’s the link. Nola is 10-0 with a 1.99 ERA.

Nothing that happens against Ole Miss will change LSU’s seeding for the SEC tournament next week. A lot can change for Ole Miss this weekend. The Rebels can finish anywhere from third to seventh in the Western Division. LSU has already clinched the West.

Mainieri told The Baton Rouge Advocate he noticed a drop in Nola’s velocity in his start in Game 2 at Texas A&M last Friday. That start came after four straight complete games.

The LSU rotation will be LHP Cody Glenn (5-1, 2.78), RHP Kurt McCune (3-1, 3.38) and RHP Ryan Eades (8-1, 2.29). The Ole Miss rotation will be RHP Mike Mayers (4-4, 2.87), RHP Sam Smith (3-0, 3.15) and RHP Bobby Wahl (9-0, 1.43).

Both teams play a final non-conference game tonight. LSU is at home against New Orleans, Ole Miss on the road at Southern Miss.

In other news …

Wahl and Ole Miss catcher Stuart Turner, a Eunice, La., native, are two of five finalists for the Ferriss Trophy, awarded to the top college baseball player in Mississippi.

Turner is hitting .390 and has been the Rebels’ offensive leader all season.

Wahl has made scoring very tough for opponents. Prior to his Sunday start against MSU he had an ERA in SEC games of 0.92. He left that start leading 6-0 but with the bases loaded. All three runs came around to score. Wahl’s SEC ERA is now 1.24 over 65.1 innings. He has not left a game trailing this season.

Tagged with: Aaron Nola, Bobby Wahl, LSU, Mike Bianco, ole miss, Paul Mainieri, SEC baseball
Posted in Baseball

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: