Ole Miss could not have asked more from its pitching on Wednesday, but it was still not enough
OMAHA, Neb. — If someone walked up to Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco on Wednesday morning and said his starter would work five innings against Arkansas and allow only two runs he would run away with it.
That is what John Gaddis gave Bianco on Wednesday but it turns out Ole Miss needed perfection from its pitching in the 3-2 loss to Arkansas. That
Gaddis not had started a game since April 9 against Alabama. Asking him to return to the mound in the starting role in what was the biggest game in program history — before Thursday’s game took over that moniker — was a big gamble.
The gamble paid off as the left-hander worked one of his better outings all season and kept a potent offense at bay. In fact, the two games Arkansas has played the Rebels in this College World Series is the only times they have not scored double digits and held to five and three runs, respectively.
“I thought (Gaddis) was terrific,” Bianco said. “Obviously, we have a lot of confidence in our offense, and this is, again, more credit to (Arkansas pitchers Hagen) Smith and (Evan) Taylor on their side. But if you would have told me that was going to be the result. That were going to run Gaddis, (Jack) Washburn and (Jack) Dougherty out there, and really any of our guys, you think you’ve got a good shot of winning those baseball games.”
That was exactly what happened and that trio of arms kept Ole Miss in the game all the way up to the final out.
Unfortunately for the Rebels, the duo of Smith and Taylor were just a dominant plus some. The Ole Miss bats that have been hot all June were instantly cooled by offspeed pitches and sliders.
Until the ninth inning and beyond Kemp Alderman’s solo home run in the second there was no notable thing the Rebels did at the plate. A last-chance rally which had bases loaded for Jacob Gonzalez with two outs and trailing by a run resulted in a lazy fly ball to left field, snuffing out the flame.
The top of Ole Miss’ order went 1-for-15 with Justin Bench having the only hit out of the top four batters. Tim Elko and Kevin Graham went a combined 0-for-7 with Elko drawing a walk.
“We had five hits, Kemp had three of them,” said Peyton Chatagnier. “Obviously their pitchers were throwing really well today. But it is what it is. We’ll go tomorrow.”
For Ole Miss there is a tomorrow due to the hot start in Omaha and going through Auburn and Arkansas. The Rebels have to be beaten twice for their season to end. Arkansas has done it once, but the Rebels still have a pulse.
Dylan DeLucia will be asked to give the outing of his life while Arkansas throws Connor Noland in an ace versus ace showdown at 3 p.m. CT Thursday.
