Baseball America drops Ole Miss baseball to No. 22 after series loss at Tennessee
Liam Doyle continued to come on for a needy Ole Miss starting rotation in the Rebels’ 8-5 comeback win at Tennessee on Saturday.
But outside of Doyle (and the one win), the Rebels would be quite alright forgetting forever the rest of their nightmare weekend on Rocky Top.
Ole Miss was out-scored 30-7 and run-ruled in a pair of bookend series losses. As a result, the Rebels dropped in Top 25 polls released on Monday. Ole Miss entered the rankings (at No. 17) for the first time this season last week.
Baseball America now has the Rebels (17-8, 3-3 SEC) at No. 22. Ole Miss next hosts Kentucky (20-4, 5-1) for a three-game set this weekend. The Wildcats sit atop the SEC standings. They’re also D1 Baseball’s No. 24-ranked team this week.
“You want it to be easy,” Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco said Saturday. “It’s human nature. But this league will expose you. (Tennessee’s) a tough place to play and a really good team in the other dugout. When they punched us, I was proud that we were tough enough to hang in there.”
Bianco is in his 24th season leading the Rebels.
They won their first-ever national championship in 2022.
Saturday was the third win for Ole Miss over a ranked SEC opponent this season. Ole Miss is 15-4 in its last 19 games. The Rebels took two of three in an SEC-opening series with South Carolina. The Gamecocks are currently slotted at No. 18, according to D1 Baseball.
Rebel pitchers surrendered 11 combined home runs to Tennessee in the series. Ole Miss went deep six times. Duke transfer third baseman Andrew Fischer had two to bring his overall total to a team-leading 11 on the year.
“Liam didn’t have a great fall camp,” Fischer said. “That’s why he wasn’t in the weekend rotation earlier in the year. But I kept telling everyone to stay with this kid; he’s a dog.
“I faced him last year, and he has nasty, nasty stuff. I knew what he was going to do when he got things going right. He’s electric. When the lights are on, I want him on the mound.”
Doyle had 10 strikeouts (to just one walk) against a powerful Tennessee lineup.
The Volunteers hit a combined 11 home runs against Rebel pitchers. Doyle is up to 28 strikeouts for the season. He has 37 in three starts and 19.2 innings.
“Excellent fastball, but his secondary stuff is outstanding,” Bianco said of the 6-foot-2, 220-pound Doyle. “The cutter was really good (Saturday). The changeup he had some swings and misses. Not as many sliders, but the cutter was terrific.”
Doyle also had a 10-K performance against USC.
“Hits and home runs are going to happen,” Doyle said afterwards. “You just have to refocus, keep your confidence and make pitches. I came here to play against teams like USC. I wasn’t nervous at all.”
