Rebel Roundabout: Saunier’s stabilized in midweek; Ole Miss golf off to strong regional start
Ole Miss men’s golf is the two-seed in the Stanford Regional this week.
And the Rebels are off to a strong start.
Ole Miss finished Day 1, on Monday, with a team-aggregate 271 (-9) and tied for fourth in the 14-team field. Thirty-six holes remain, and only the Top 5 advance to the NCAA Championship in Carlsbad, California.
The Rebels tee off again Tuesday at 11 a.m. CT. They’re paired with Texas A&M and UCLA.
“They did a good job,” Ole Miss head coach Chris Malloy said. “(Michael La Sasso) has led us all year, so I actually viewed it as a positive that the one time he has an off-day, these other guys were right there.
“To watch Mike get fired up by that and get energy from those guys picking up the slack, as a coach, I thought that was really cool.”
THE REBELS
T7. Tom Fischer: 66 (-4)
T10. Kye Meeks: 67 (-3)
T23. Cameron Tankersley: 69 (-1)
T23. Tim Tillmanns: 69 (-1)
T54. Michael La Sasso: 73 (+3)
THE LEADERBOARD
1. Illinois: 263 (-17)
2. Florida State: 267 (-13)
3. Stanford: 269 (-11)
T4. Ole Miss: 271 (-9)
T4. Texas A&M: 271 (-9)
6. UCLA: 277 (-3)
7. Augusta: 278 (-2)
8. UNLV: 281 (+1)
T9. SMU: 285 (+5)
T9. Missouri: 285 (+5)
T11. Liberty: 286 (+6)
T11. Fresno State: 286 (+6)
13. Sienna College: 288 (+8)
14. Sacramento State: 296 (+16)
RELATED: South Alabama linebacker Khalil Jacobs to start Ole Miss official visit Tuesday
SAUNIER: MIDWEEK STABILIZER
Second-year right-hander Grayson Saunier has settled in as a midweek starter for Ole Miss baseball.
He opened the year in the weekend rotation but struggled. Ultimately he was bumped after giving up five runs in three innings in a loss to Kentucky in March.
Saunier has since gone at least 4.0 innings and given up no more than two earned runs in three straight starts. His last penciled-in start of the season is Tuesday at No. 25 Southern Miss. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. CT on ESPN+.
Saunier (4-3, 5.62 ERA, 30 K, 15 BB) will look to extend a recent hot streak for the Ole Miss starting pitchers. Riley Maddox, Liam Doyle and Mason Nichols teamed up over the weekend to strike out 19 and allow just four earned runs over 17 innings in a series win over then-No. 2 Texas A&M.
The Rebels enter play 27-24 (11-16 SEC) on the year. Southern Miss is 34-17 (18-9 SBC).
MARQUESHA DAVIS BEGINS WNBA JOURNEY
Marquesha Davis, in April, became the fifth WNBA first-rounder in Ole Miss women’s basketball history.
She officially embarks on her professional journey Tuesday.
Davis — who was the draft’s No. 11 overall selection — and the New York Liberty tip off at the Washington Mystics at 6 p.m. CT. The game will be broadcast on WNBA League Pass.
Davis was an Ole Miss senior last season and scored double-digit points in 25 games. She led the Rebels in scoring (14.6 points per game). Davis had a career-best 33 points against Florida in the SEC Tournament to surpass the 1,000-point mark for her college career. She’s just the 36th player in Ole Miss history to do so.
The Liberty appeared in the 2023 WNBA Finals and have made the playoffs three straight years.
