Dillon CaderThe Ole Miss baseball team improved its record to 7-0 as it won the first game of the two-game series against Louisiana Monroe in dominant fashion. Here are a few things I took away from the game.
New pitchers look legit
For the first time this year, the most impressive part of an Ole Miss victory was the production of its pitching staff. The Rebel pitchers gave up only two earned runs while striking out 17 Warhawks. Freshman Hunter Elliot looked as good as any Ole Miss pitcher has all season, striking out nine in four innings of work. Freshman Riley Maddox allowed just two baserunners in his two-inning outing. Both pitchers showed they have SEC-caliber stuff. Elliot made very tough pitches with his breaking ball and located his fastball very nicely. The way he worked through the lineup looked very similar to former Rebel Doug Nikhazy. Maddox has very impressive stuff for a freshman. His sinking fastball clocks in around 92-95 MPH and he throws a low-80’s slider with nice movement. Fans should expect these two to get plenty of meaningful outings throughout the season.
It might be time to be concerned about Hayden Dunhurst.
The standout Ole Miss catcher has now missed five games in a row after tweaking his hamstring during the second game of the season. Dunhurst was initially only projected to miss a few games for precautionary measures, but still hasn’t returned to the lineup. This injury looks similar to Peyton Chatagnier’s hamstring injury a year ago, which didn’t seem serious at first but Chatagnier missed more time than projected and the injury seemed to linger all year. Hopefully this isn’t the case for Dunhurst, and the training staff is just making sure he is fully healed, but if he isn’t in the lineup by the end of the week, it’s probably time to be concerned.
The eight-hole hitter has a .600 batting average.
Since taking over for Dunhurst, sophomore catcher Calvin Harris is 9 of 15 at the plate while bringing in an OPS of 1.433 and an on-base percentage of .700. He has shown he has what it takes to start in this lineup and most other lineups in the country. His success at the plate has made for a strong case to be the designated hitter once Dunhurst returns. Having an eight-hole hitter hit .600 is what makes this offense one of the best in the country. When the bottom of the order is producing like it is, it will be extremely difficult to shut them down.
