Weekend Preview: Diamond Rebs Look To Get Back On Track, Host High Point For Weekend Opener
OXFORD, Miss. – Ole Miss baseball is 2-3 on this young season, after splitting a four-game series with Hawaii last weekend and falling to Arkansas State, 4-2, Wednesday in the home season opener.
After the series loss to Hawaii Sunday, head coach Mike Bianco talked about his team’s performance.
“I can’t remember in 24 years playing the game so poorly in all three phases. There will be some bright spots but they are hard to even mention right now,” Bianco said.
Ole Miss continued its struggles against the Red Wolves in last night’s midweek game. Keep in mind, however, his version of Arkansas State was vastly improved from last year’s squad, and came into the contest with the Rebels at 3-0. Despite having not won a game in Oxford since 2008, the Red Wolves showed extreme patience at the plate, barreling up baseballs, getting runners on, and scoring those runners. Their infield was phenomenal, robbing the Rebels of multiple base hits. And the Rebels just couldn’t ever, pardon the pun, get into the swing of things, falling in the home opener. It was the first home opener loss for Ole Miss since 2020 against Louisville.
“I just don’t think, throughout the lineup, we have enough consistently good at bats. When you score runs, a lot of times you score them in bunches and you score them because you’re able to put a chain of good at bats together and we just don’t get that, and that’s really been kind of the theme for the five games.“
Mike Bianco after the loss to Arkansas State
On To The Weekend
There’s no time to sit around and pout. Ole Miss has just one day off before welcoming the High Point Panthers to Swayze Field for the first weekend series of the year.
A Look At The Panthers
High Point comes into the weekend at just 1-4, with three losses to UMASS-Lowell and a loss to Appalachian State. But despite the record, High Point has had some bright spots in their first five games, the biggest being Cael Chatham. Chatham is hitting .429 through five games with an OPS of 1.453. He has six hits, five runs, and a bomb to this point in the season.
Chatham lifts his fist 💣 of the year to get HPU on the board!#GoHPU pic.twitter.com/n2IxlnZLuR
— High Point Baseball (@HPUBaseball) February 20, 2024
In 14 at-bats, Chatham has yet to strike out, and he has walked nine times. He’s also made an appearance on the mound for the Panthers.
Chatham get’s the K to add to his impressive night ! 👀#GoHPU pic.twitter.com/snYDoHhtPl
— High Point Baseball (@HPUBaseball) February 20, 2024
Sam Schner brings power to the High Point lineup as well, with two homers on the season, while Konni Durschlag brings the speed, with three stolen bases in four attempts.
The Panthers are batting .229 as a lineup, with seven homers and 22 RBI’s so far on the young season.
The Panther pitching staff presents a real opportunity for Ole Miss to get the bats on track. High Point has managed just a 5.94 ERA so far, and while starter Gus Hughes set the tone with a 1.80 ERA in five innings, the rest of the staff hasn’t been as clean. Both Brett Wozniak and Howell Polk each went five innings in their respective starts, and each came away with an ERA of 7.20. Wozniak gave up seven hits and four runs, while Polk gave up six hits and four runs. Wozniak also issued three free passes in his outing. Dalton Olsovsky, who started the midweek contest against App State, made it just three innings, giving up five hits and five runs, while walking two. If the Rebels can show some much-needed patience at the plate, this staff will provide the chance for beer showers aplenty.
Hitting woes
The Ole Miss bats are going to need to get to work. The Rebels have managed just a .181 team batting average so far, with just four homers and 17 RBI. They’ve walked 24 times while striking out 37 times, and have just one player in the starting lineup hitting over .300 (Ethan Lege, .400.) In a total of 160 at-bats, the Rebs have managed 29 hits. Only two players have managed more than three hits (Ethan Lege with six and Ethan Groff with five.) And after a weekend in Hawaii that saw Ole Miss go 9-62 with runners on base, the Rebels left seven more on base against the Red Wolves on Wednesday in a 4-2 loss.
Bright spots
But there are also bright spots. Treyson Hughes connected for his first extra base hit of the season against Arkansas State, showing off the smooth swing that was highly touted when he arrived in Oxford. Jackson Ross barreled up a single to collect his first RBI, and Judd Utermark cued the first beer showers of the season with a solo shot to left center.
Cue the Lights 💡 pic.twitter.com/xYMY37cneT
— Ole Miss Baseball (@OleMissBSB) February 22, 2024
But perhaps the brightest spot of the year has been Mason Nichols and the Ole Miss bullpen. In 5.1 innings, Nichols has allowed no runs with six strikeouts, allowing just one hit.
Mason Morris and Wes Mendes have ERA’s of 3.18 and 3.60 respectively, giving up just four runs combined and striking out 12 between them in 10.2 combined innings.
Brayden Jones has also gone 4.2 innings on the season, with an ERA of just 1.93 with five hits and four strikeouts. If the Rebels are going to turn it around, good outings from their bullpen will be much needed.
Looking Ahead
The Rebels need this series. After the weekend with High Point, Ole Miss faces a very long week, with a Tuesday game against Little Rock, a Wednesday game against Missouri State, and then a high-powered Iowa Hawkeyes team comes in town for the weekend. We will learn a lot about this Ole Miss team over the next week, and the Rebs have a real opportunity to build some serious momentum heading into conference play.
Game info
All three games against High Point will be streamed on the SEC Network+. Friday’s game goes at 4:00, Saturday at 5:00, and Sunday at 1:30. The Rebel Walk will have full coverage throughout the weekend, so stay tuned.
Austin Eldridge
Austin has more than ten years in sports media, including sports talk radio, play-by-play broadcasting and journalism. He has followed Ole Miss athletics for his entire life and has covered the Rebels and the rest of the SEC while working in the Memphis media market. Outside of sports media, Austin is a musician and outdoorsman. Before a serious accident forced him to be medically discharged, he was a multi-media journalist with the Mississippi National Guard.
