OXFORD — With just three weekends left in the SEC’s regular season, Ole Miss heads to Columbia, Missouri, with as much momentum as it’s had in a few months.
The Rebels (24-21, 5-16 SEC) won their first SEC series last weekend against Georgia, the clinching finale coming in walk-off fashion by way of junior right fielder T.J. McCants. Ole Miss turned around and sparred with Little Rock Tuesday afternoon in a back-and-forth game that saw the Rebels rally from a 7-2 fourth-inning deficit to win 12-10.
Having won three of four games overall, next up is Missouri, who Ole Miss swept last season as part of its late-season surge to the postseason and eventual College World Series crown. The Rebels and Tigers begin their three-game series Thursday at 6 p.m. The opener will be broadcast on SEC Network.
Ole Miss’ pitching was far from stellar overall Tuesday against Little Rock, but one of the highlights was sophomore reliever Cole Tolbert. Tolbert went seven weeks between appearances for the Rebels but has appeared in five games out of the bullpen since April 12. In 4.1 combined innings of work against LSU and Georgia, Tolbert gave up one earned run, struck out five and walked two. He’s walked just two batters in his 9.1 innings of work since mid-April compared to his 13 strikeouts.
“Proud of him,” head coach Mike Bianco said. “ … That’s what we need him to do, to be able to come in and fill up the strike zone with two pitches. … There was a big pause in-between, and part of that is because he didn’t command it well, and not just in the games but in our scrimmages, in practices, pitchers vs. hitters. But the last three weeks or so, he’s really been good. And we’ll take all the pieces to the bullpen we can get.”
Tolbert pitched two innings against the Trojans without allowing a run. He struck out four batters without a walk and picked up his first NCAA win.
“I felt like I had all my stuff … hats off to them, they had a really good day offensively,” Tolbert said. “But it was just one of those days where I felt like my stuff was better than what they had.”
Missouri (25-19, 5-16) has been swept in each of the last two weekends against Alabama and Florida. Third baseman Luke Mann and first baseman Hank Zeisler lead Missouri with 13 and 12 home runs, respectively. Missouri has the worst scoring offense in the SEC, averaging 5.9 runs per game – a number that ranks 222nd nationally.
Ole Miss will start junior Xavier Rivas Thursday, freshman J.T. Quinn Friday and has not announced its Sunday starter yet. Freshman Grayson Saunier started last Sunday’s finale against Georgia and went a career-long six innings with one earned run and six strikeouts.
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