Rippee Writes: Monday Scoop
A ton of baseball thoughts, March Madness and an NIT Exit
Photo credit: Ole Miss Athletics
Happy Monday to all. We’ve got sweeps, hoops and a lot more to discuss. We’ve also got a new podcast out with Collin Brister recapping the weekend. Available on Apple and Spotify. Go check it out. First things first, if you were in Oxford over the weekend, I hope you took advantage of the free pound of spicy ribeye sausage from LBs. Greg is continuing that deal through the middle of the week. Go see him. He’ll take care of you. If you’re a new subscriber that missed the promo email, show him this. It will work too.
More specials later later. Let’s dive in.
A Sweet Sweep:
Ole Miss swept Auburn over the weekend behind a masterful performance from its starting rotation and an offensive explosion on Sunday. Sweeps are massive in this dogged SEC West and it would be hard to overstate the importance of this 3-0 start for the Rebels. Here's some thoughts from the weekend.
Gunnar Hoglund - This 1-0 win is why you have your most talented arm go on Friday nights in this league. Hoglund was absolutely brilliant over eight innings of shutout ball in which he scattered five hits, struck out 13 with one walk, and Ole Miss needed every bit of it.
The 7th inning sequence particularly sticks out in terms of Hoglund’s importance on Fridays as well as him ascending to the peak of his ability. Auburn had men on second and third with no outs in a 0-0 game and looked poised to take the lead. Hoglund had other ideas. He struck out the next two hitters on six pitches and then whiffed a third on a slider away. All three strikeouts culminated in off-speed pitches in what was as dominant a sequence as you’ll see on a college mound. Calvin Harris’ pinch hit homer in one hell of an at bat in the eighth kept this gem from being spoiled and what a masterful performance is it was. Gunnar Hoglund has arrived. Enjoy watching Hoglund over the next two three months. He’ll be an early name called in the 2021 MLB Draft.
Speaking of Calvin Harris, after his Friday night heroics, he started the final two games of the weekend at DH in place of Ben Van Cleve. If you remember, Harris injured his elbow (UCL) in the offseason and cannot catch or play the field. What he can do is hit right-handed pitching and offers Ole Miss a valuable left-handed bat option at DH and off the bench, presumably splitting time with the right-handed Van Cleve depending on match up. Harris is the catcher of the future and one of the highest rated recruits Mike Bianco has gotten to campus. If he can make a sustainable impact with his bat this season, it raises this team’s ceiling even higher.
T.J. McCants hit his first home run on Sunday and compiled a 3-6 weekend with a double and the long ball in the two games he started. McCants’ production at the plate is driving the lineup change the saw this weekend in which Bianco slid Justin Bench to third base, Tim Elko to first and Kevin Graham to left field. John Rhys Plumlee drew the nod in center on Friday instead of McCants, but had a quiet night. Bianco clearly likes McCants ( with good reason) and wants to give him every chance to become a mainstay in the lineup. With Trey LaFluer out with mononucleosis and Cael Baker sidelined with a broken hand, this shakeup is the best lineup Ole Miss can run out, in my opinion. McCants is one hell of an athlete offers defensive stability in the middle of two corner outfielders (Leatherwood and Graham) that are in the lineup to hit rather than snare web gems. McCants’ defensive prowess will particularly pay off in larger ballparks like, say, potentially T.D. Ameritrade in Omaha, Nebraska.
The other piece of this is that it makes your infield better. Bench, whose Will Golsan-like versatility is invaluable to this club, is a plus defender at third and Elko is better than what you were getting from anyone previously at third base. There could potentially be another tweak when LaFluer and Baker return, but if McCants continues to hit, this may just be the strongest version of this team.
Drew McDaniel turned in a fine outing and so did Derek Diamond. The Ole Miss rotation threw a combined 19 innings of two-run ball with 26 strikeouts and two walks, against a very good Auburn lineup. That is a remarkable line and is the primary reason why the Rebels won this series, coupled with Auburn’s lack of bullpen depth proving unable to match what Ole Miss’ starters and bullpen did on the mound.
With Doug Nikhazy set to return next week, what’s to make of this rotation? If you had asked me Friday, I would have bet Diamond was the odd man out with McDaniel becoming the Sunday guy. I am flipping that prediction now given what Diamond showed on Sunday. He touched 97 mph with his fastball and simply looked different than he had in his previous three outings. He matched McDaniel’s outing and performed well-enough to keep the Sunday gig he’s had since the first time he put on an Ole Miss uniform. I don’t think McDaniel should return to the midweek, but rather be used in high-leverage situations out of the bullpen. His stuff is electric and his velocity will tick up a notch or two coming out of the pen. This is a great luxury for Ole Miss and will deepen a bullpen that has been good at the top, but inconsistent in the middle ( see Miller, Kimbrell on Saturday). Oh, and not to mention, a fourth starter you would trust on weekends seems somewhat valuable come postseason time, right?
Taylor Broadway earned saves in back-to-back days. Guy is durable and throws gas. That is a good thing for Ole Miss.
Sure, it got a little hairy late, but stepping on Auburn’s neck with 14 runs after winning the first two is a nice indicator of this team’s mentality.
The Rebels are getting healthier and lead the SEC West after a weekend. Of course, it’s just three games, but sweeps are huge. Going 15-12 over nine weeks locks up a national seed, no questions asked. That sounds much more palatable than 18-12 over 10 weeks, doesn’t it? Each game matters. Sweeps are huge. Get out of Alabama with two this weekend and you’re 5-1 headed to Florida. That’s a hell of a spot to be in.
Ole Miss lost to Louisiana Tech in the NIT:
A short-handed Ole Miss team lost to Louisiana Tech in the first round of the NIT in Frisco on Friday. Down Devontae Shuler and K.J. Buffen, I am not sure what else you could have anticipated here. Jarkell Joiner continues to look like he’s arrived as a high level scorer. Look at his numbers the last 15 games of this season and you’ll feel better about him becoming the scorer most hoped he’d be this year. He scored 22 on 7-17 shooting, but Ole Miss struggled to find offense outside of their primary guard (sound familiar?) and lost a lead that ballooned to double digits in the first half.
I don’t have much else to add about the game itself I was in attendance with a couple of friends. The venue was unique (the alternate court/rink area inside the Dallas Stars’ practice facility) and Louisiana Tech’s contingent of fans were locked in as if it were a Final Four game, including one gentleman that sat behind us who was so pissed at our mere existence, this win had to have given him purpose in life for another half decade at least. Congrats to him. Ole Miss has work to do to retool its roster, particularly in the front court. Keep an eye on what they do in the transfer market.
Spring Football Begins Tuesday:
I’ll have more in-depth thoughts in the morning, but Lane Kiffin is opening up practices to fans on Saturdays if that suits your interest. I am interested in the offensive line, who emerges at wide receiver and how much the talent deficiency on the defensive side has improved — on paper at least.
More on this tomorrow, but spring football is interesting again. This was the case a total of zero times when I was on the beat. Enjoy it.
March Madness:
What a weekend it has been and so great to have the tournament back. Some very quick thoughts:
Oral Roberts, Abilene Christian and Ohio are fantastic storylines.
Loyola Chicago is no Cinderella and a legitimate threat to make the Final four. head coach Porter Moser now has more Sweet 16 appearances than Shaka Smart. Not sure why Indiana, Marquette and Minnesota aren’t offering the guy whatever he wants and making him say no. Maybe they are. They definitely should.
Biggest disappointments: Uconn, Ohio State, Florida, West Virginia and San Diego State
Biggest surprises: Syracuse, Villanova (look at their injury report), Oregon State
Final Four sleeper: Loyola Chicago, LSU, Colorado
My bracket has been pretty good, but you do not care and nor should you.
What you should care about is letting my friends at SkyBox Sports Picks steer your towards a profit, if that is something you’re into. They have a March Madness special package going and have an option that suits your from daily to yearly packages. These guys are awesome. Go check them out. Use my promo code for 20 percent off any purchase.
Mississippi represents on Korn Ferry Tour
Ole Miss’ Braden Thornberry finished solo third and moved up six spots to 44th in the standings. Mississippi State’s Chad Ramey finished T-4 and continues to put together a remarkably consistent year. He’s in line to get a PGA Tour card.
On the Horizon:
Football-heavy newsletter tomorrow
Collin and I will record on Wednesday to preview Ole Miss’ series at Alabama that starts Thursday. Perhaps a Mailbag Sunday is in the works?
More LBs Specials.
Thanks for reading and thanks for the new subscribers over the weekend. Feedback is appreciated as always, including a reader and listener who solved my TV remote control issues. We are problem solvers here at Rippee Writes. Have a great Monday.