Colby Bortles hits a ball during Tuesday’s game against Tennessee-Martin. (Photo by: Evan Turner)
Ole Miss is at a delicate point of its season right now. After starting 20-2 and winning its first SEC series at Tennessee, the Rebels have scuffled as of late. Things just are not going well. South Carolina swept the Rebels at home, and after dropping two of three last weekend at Mississippi State has Ole Miss at 20-7 and 3-6 in SEC play, which has them sixth in the SEC West only ahead of a 2-7 Auburn club.
The starting pitching has not been there at all. An Ole Miss starter has not made it six innings in SEC play, and seven of the last nine games, the starter has not made it out of the fifth. The offense hasn’t been there enough, scoring six runs just twice in the last seven games. Where this team stands now is exactly what makes the next four weeks so crucial.
To be fair, Ole Miss has faced a top 10 team the last two weeks, but that does not negate the fact that there is ground to make up. Luckily for them, the schedule gets a little friendlier.
Three of the Rebels’ next four series come at home, and all three of those home series come against teams that currently have a losing record in conference: Arkansas, Auburn and LSU. The lone road series comes next weekend at Alabama who sits at 16-11 (5-4). Midweek games with Southern Miss, Memphis, Murray State and Mississippi State loom in between these series, respectively. If there was ever a time for this team to make up ground, it’s in the month of April.
Mike Bianco plans to shake up the weekend rotation before taking the field this weekend against Arkansas, so change in the pitching staff is coming. It is not yet known what exactly that change is, but he made it pretty clear on Monday that it is in fact on its way. Ole Miss has won back-to-back games, scoring eight runs and six runs respectively in those games. They will need that type of offense over these next 16 games to win, because if they don’t, it will be a tough trek to the finish line.
After the next four series, things become substantially tougher. Ole Miss hits the homestretch with three games in Athens against Georgia, three at home against No. 21 Kentucky before closing out the season at No. 6 Texas A&M, who by the way, was number one in the country before being swept at Florida last weekend.
The season is still young, and Ole Miss is still just 29 games in. Its RPI is currently at six, as is its strength of schedule, so the NCAA tournament resume is a far cry from in trouble. A couple of more series like the last two could change that though, which is again what makes these next couple of weeks so important.
April brings warmer weather, and this year, it also brings the Rebels an opportunity to get back on track, because if they don’t, the closing stretch of the season will not be nearly as friendly. First pitch Friday against Arkansas is set for 6:30 p.m.
