Ole Miss bats struggle in 9-2 loss to Maryland in game one

OXFORD, Miss. – The first big test of the 2023 campaign came for Ole Miss in the form of the Maryland Terrapins from the Big 10 Conference. The Rebels dropped the opening game of the series, 9-2, and will look to bounce back in Saturday’s game. 

Entering Friday night’s contest, Maryland was No. 13 with a 2-2 record, and Ole Miss was undefeated at 4-0 sporting a No. 4 national ranking. In 2022, Maryland won its first ever Big 10 Championship and hosted a Regional but fell to UConn in an eventual game seven.

Rebel ace Hunter Elliott missed his Friday night start with forearm tightness.  The sophomore will not pitch this weekend at a minimum.  Results of an MRI from earlier this week are still not known.  

In his place, one of the heroes of Omaha, junior Jack Dougherty would start in Elliott’s place.  Dougherty’s “spot start” provided the Rebels with an opportunity from a runs-on-the-board prospective.  

Dougherty, a Collierville, Tennessee native, traveled four innings while giving up three runs on six hits and two walks.  He recorded three strikeouts.  

“I think Jack would admit, very average stuff tonight….just put himself in some bad counts and some bad positions out there, and they were able to get a couple runs on him” head coach Mike Bianco said of his starter. But the Rebel skipper went on to add, “He competed hard; we knew he would do that.”

The Terrapins were able to get to the Ole Miss bullpen with six runs being tallied against Rebel pitching and, in effect, put the game out of reach in the seventh inning with their fourth grand slam of the year.

Unfortunately, Maryland starter Jason Savacool was outstanding, limiting the Rebels to two runs on five hits through the first seven innings. 

Catcher Calvin Harris and first baseman  Anthony Calarco each had two hits and a run scored to lead the Rebels offensively. Freshman DH Will Furniss and shortstop Jacob Gonzalez also singled.   

“Just a really good mix of four pitches,” Coach Bianco said after the game, describing Maryland’s starter, Savacool. “Disappointed we didn’t compete better offensively, but that’s not taking anything away from Savacool,” he added.

Up Next

The Rebels and Terrapins return to action on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. at Swayze.  Freshman Grayson Saunier (1-0) will start for Ole Miss and Nick Dean (1-0) will take the hill for Maryland.  

Saunier notched five strikeouts in four shutout innings in his Ole Miss debut last week and Dean threw seven innings of shutout baseball striking out seven versus Campbell in week 1.

(Feature image credit: Josh McCoy, Ole Miss)