Southern Miss Recap

 

          The evolution of the Ole Miss pitching staff was on full display in front of a record crowd Wednesday night in Hattiesburg. Drew McDaniel had been relegated to the midweek after opening the season in the weekend rotation, and it was unclear if Jackson Kimbrell and Josh Mallitz would even have a role after being contributors the prior year. All three had their best outing of the season in a game Ole Miss really needed to boost its postseason resume. The end result was a 4-1 Ole Miss victory – the Rebels fourth straight win. McDaniel earned his fifth win around two losses and Brandon Johnson recorded the final three outs to pick up his seventh save. Currently number 57 in the RPI, that number should rise after the victory over the Golden Eagles who sit at number 17. In a perfect world the Rebels RPI would sit in the 30s by season’s end.

              Drew McDaniel has displayed tantalizing flashes of how good he can be. There was the now-infamous Sunday in Starkville and the gem he spun against Georgia in last year’s SEC tournament.  This year, however, the results have not been what Ole Miss has hoped for out of the once highly regarded prep prospect. None of that mattered on Wednesday as McDaniel turned in the best performance of his junior year gaining a measure of revenge against a team that knocked him around in game 6 of the 2021 Oxford regional. Working ahead in the count and relying on a high spin rate curveball to put batters away, McDaniel stymied a powerful offense over 5 complete innings. Though the breaking ball flattened out a bit in the fourth and fifth innings, the junior kept his composure and prevented the Golden Eagles from crossing the plate in four of his five innings. The only blemish against McDaniel was a second inning home run off the bat of Christopher Sargent. The McDaniel outing comes on the heels of another strong performance against Mississippi State in the Governor’s Cup on April 26^th in Pearl, Mississippi. A locked in Drew McDaniel changes the complexion of the Ole Miss pitching staff down the stretch and into Hoover.

           Speaking of that Sunday in Starkville, Josh Mallitz worked an impressive inning and a third.  Mallitz was consistently around the strike zone and, like McDaniel, put batters away with a sharp breaking ball. The sophomore struck out three of the five batters he faced and did not surrender a hit or walk a batter.

          Working between McDaniel and Mallitz, Jackson Kimbrell was equally impressive. Working through a lefthanded-heavy portion of the Southern Miss lineup, Kimbrell struck out two in an inning and two-thirds and did not allow a hit. The only blemish against the junior lefty was a hit batsman to lead off the sixth inning. Kimbrell’s emergence as a reliable lefthanded option out of the bullpen is huge for a roster that has only three lefties who have seen action this season. Kimbrell and John Gaddis can be extremely versatile pieces for this bullpen down the stretch. Both could be used in matchup scenarios and either could provide a bit of length if needed.

              The Rebel offense did just enough to ensure the solid mound work would not be in vain. Kevin Graham continued his hot streak with a two-run home run in the fourth inning. The following batter, Kemp Alderman, deposited a pitch over the left field wall to make the fourth inning a three-run frame. Both long balls came off of Southern Miss starter Matthew Adams who had been excellent to that point. Tim Elko rounded out the scoring with an RBI single in the fifth inning. In all, the Rebels tallied seven hits against six Golden Eagle arms.

             Ole Miss looks to continue its postseason push on Friday when they travel to Baton Rouge for a three-game set with LSU. There is still significant work to be done if the Rebels wish to play baseball into June, but Wednesday night was another step in walking a narrow path to an NCAA tournament berth.