Sorry guys, haven’t been able to post in the past several days. School winding down, exam stress, etc.
Since the team’s sweep of Kentucky, the team has been 3-2, taking two from New Orleans, and winning one out of three versus South Carolina.
Here is OleMissAthletics.net’s thoughts on the team thus far.
1) Scott Bittle is the ace of the team. Should he be moved to Friday? Our personal feelings tell us no, on the basis of Bianco doesn’t want to switch the rotation around every time a pitcher has an average outing (Pomeranz’s Friday start vs. SC).
2) This team has a lot of young talent. Matt Snyder, Tim Ferguson, David Goforth, Drew Pomeranz, etc. If Ole Miss happens to land David Renfroe (SS/P for South Panola; has to decide Ole Miss or the Draft), Ole Miss looks to have a solid foundation of young players for a good run in the next couple years.
3) The relief pitching has been very decent so far. You have David Goforth, Jake Morgan, Rory McKean, Nathan Baker all doing great relief work thus far. That’s going to have to stay the same if Ole Miss hopes to make a deep run. Starting pitching won’t do it all when it comes tournament time.
4) The team seems a bit inconsistent. Matt Smith, IMO, has improved but needs to take a leadership role and step into the 4 hole by limiting strikeouts. Evan Button, at times, looks like an experienced veteran, but could look like he’s making his first start ever the next day. Kevin Mort can field about just any groundball, but time and time again, struggles at the plate. Basham has taken a step down from last year (could be injury problems though). All these concerns will have to step it up for Ole Miss to host this June.
Overall, I think Ole Miss is in good shape for April. Yes, it could be much better, but sitting at 9-5 in the SEC looks good. We’ll definitely have to take 2 of 3 in just about every SEC series here on out, with an occasional sweep, and a decent run in the SEC tournament to host. If the bats can catch up to the solid pitching thus far, we’ll be alright.
Okay, now for Governor’s Cup predictions. I’m going to say, considering this is a rival game, that the score will be a lot closer than most media (and Rebs) think. We’ll have to work their starter enough to get to their relief pitching, which from what I hear is nothing better than your average six year-old Dixie Youth Baseball League. I think the Bulldogs hang tough for about 5-6 innings, but Ole Miss gets it done late.
Prediction: Ole Miss 9 – Mississippi State 6
