Catcher Will Allen, left, is greeted at the dugout by Errol Robinson, Matt Denny, Austin Knight, after scoring against Virginia in the second inning of the game Saturday. Allen scored on a throw to second base as J.B. Woodman was caught stealing. (AP Photo/Eric Francis)
It was a season that exceeded many expectations for the Diamond Rebels, but the historic run in Omaha has ended, losing to Virginia 4-1.
The Cavaliers move on to the finals of the College World Series, where they will face the winner of the Texas and Vanderbilt game tonight.
Ole Miss finishes the season with a 48-21 overall record, going 2-2 in their first College World Series appearance in 42 years.
“First of all, I would like to congratulate Virginia. Just tremendous in the two games that we played them. They just make it very hard on you, and man, they’re good,” Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco said. “They can really pitch. They can really hit and defend. They run the bases. They’re just an outstanding ball club, and obviously deserve to win.”
The game was suspended yesterday due to heavy lightning and rain and was continued today in the top of the second inning, with runners on first and second with no outs for Virginia. Jeremy Massie started the game for Ole Miss, but looked erratic, throwing 28 pitches in just over an inning’s worth of work.
Scott Weathersby came out to pitch in the second inning today for the Rebels, and got out of the jam without allowing a run on one strikeout.
Ole Miss would get the first run of the game, when J.B. Woodman was caught stealing second, which allowed Will Allen to score from third base to make it 1-0 Ole Miss.
Chris Ellis would get the pitching duties after Weathersby’s inning of work, a bold move by Bianco in an elimination game to keep the Rebels in Omaha for one more day. Ellis would struggle, pitching 3.2 innings in his first relief appearance of the season, giving up three earned runs on four hits with three walks and no strikeouts.
“It just comes down to not walking people, they can all hit, they can all drive in runs, obviously,” Ellis said. “I thought that’s what hurt me was walking guys that got into scoring position. Doesn’t matter where you hit in the lineup, if you give them the opportunity they usually get an RBI or come up with a big hit, seemed like. That’s just it, they’re all good hitters.”
After pitching a shutout third inning, Ellis struggled the rest of his outing.
Virginia tagged Ellis with three runs in the fourth inning with a two RBI double by Robbie Coman to give Virginia the 3-1 lead.
“We thought the best plan was to bring Scott (Weathersby) into the game with runners on and try to do his magic like he usually does and gets out of a jam and let Chris (Ellis) go out there with a clean slate, basically starting the game,” Bianco said on the pitching strategy for the game. “It wasn’t Chris’s best day, but at the end of the day, I think you got to put your ace out there, when your back’s against the wall.”
Virginia would add an insurance run in the seventh with an RBI double by Joe McCarthy to make it 4-1.
Freshman Wyatt Short pitched the last 3.1 innings for the Rebels, doing everything he could to keep the game within reach. He gave up one earned run on two hits with two strikeouts and no walks.
The Rebels only had one runner reach second base in the last six innings of the game. Needles to say, the offense just wasn’t there as the Rebels’ stay in Omaha ended by only scoring one run on six hits.
Ole Miss has now lost five-straight NCAA tournament games against Virginia and are now 2-5 all-time against the Cavaliers.
The Virginia bullpen hasn’t given up a run so far in the College World Series, and made it very difficult on the Rebel hitters to get any kind of momentum to rally and stay alive.
“He throws 94, 95. Pretty good fastball and sometimes it’s hard to catch up to it and get on top,” Austin Anderson said on Virginia reliever Artie Lewicki, who pitched three innings of scoreless relief. “He’s also throwing an 85 mile per hour cutter, cutter/slider, and he did a good job of making good pitches and keeping our hitter off balance.”
“To add what Austin (Anderson) said, great arm, throwing hard and when you mix it in with the cutter slider at 84, 86, really keeps people off balance,” Will Allen said. “When (Lewicki) got out of those jams and started rolling a little bit, he pitched with a little more confidence, and obviously when you’re doing that, with that kind of stuff, it’s tough to hit.”
Although Bianco and the Ole Miss team did not make it to their goal of winning a national championship, they have many things to be proud of. Finishing as one of the top four teams in the country is something that Ole Miss baseball has never done before. It was the Rebels fifth College World Series appearance in school history. In the SEC preseason poll, Ole Miss was picked to finish sixth in the SEC West and second-to-last in the SEC overall, and ended up winning the SEC West.
“I’m proud of my guys. You don’t ever want to come short, especially when you are this close to winning a national championship. But this is a special group of guys and a special group of older guys,” Bianco said.“The three of the guys sitting next to me (Ellis, Anderson, Allen), great leadership and were such great mentors to the younger group that is so talented, but we weren’t sure what to do when they got here and these guys put them on their back and were tremendous all year.
“So I sit here sad that it ends, but more importantly sad, because these 35 guys that wore the uniforms this year for Ole Miss, just great representatives for the university and will go down as the best team that ever played at Ole Miss won’t ever be together again. That’s what makes it sad.”
It was an amazing season for the Rebels and something the team, fans, and the University should be proud of. Getting to Omaha for the first time since 1972 and finishing in the top four teams in the country is something that should be celebrated and remembered forever.
— Dylan Rubino
thedmsports@gmail.com
