Dillon CaderThe Ole Miss baseball team collected its fourth run-rule victory of the season and earned a series sweep for the second straight weekend to move to 6-0 on the year. The Rebels defeated the Rams 14-3 in the second game of the series on Sunday after Saturday’s matchup was canceled due to weather. Here are some takeaways from the game.
The offense continues to look as good as advertised.
The Rebels dominated offensively for the sixth consecutive game, putting up a team batting average of .424 (14-33) for the game and hitting .545 (6-11) with runners in scoring position. They hit three home runs, which came off the bats of Jacob Gonzales, Tim Elko and Tywone Malone. Despite trailing by three early, the game was never really in doubt. The offense continues to look as deep and talented as it should, and it continues to mash its way to blowout victories. Peyton Chatagnier got off to a rather slow start but went 2-4 in the game with a triple and a couple of RBI’s. If he can continue to swing it well, there will be no struggling going on in the lineup.
Having so many run-rule wins isn’t the best thing
Ole Miss has only gotten to play a full nine-inning game twice this season. Dominating the game offensively and cruising to a win is great, but the Rebels really need to figure out what the pitching situation is going to look like. The games ending early are taking some much-needed innings of work away from the pitching staff. Brandon Johnston got just his first inning of work of the season on Sunday and Ole Miss was only able to pitch five guys out of the bullpen over the weekend, including John Gaddis, who is the current Saturday starter. Jack Dougherty and Riley Maddox didn’t even pitch over the weekend despite looking very good in the previous series. With SEC play just three weekends away, Ole Miss still has a lot to figure out when it comes to its pitching rotation and needs to get guys as many innings of work as possible.
John Gaddis looks very promising
The Texas A&M Corpus Christi transfer is looking like he will be one of the Rebel’s best options to put on the mound this season. He pitched three scoreless innings in relief in the win over VCU on Sunday and allowed only one run in four innings in his start against Charleston Southern. If he can keep up his production, he will give the Rebels a good chance to win when his name is called upon.
