Rippee Writes: Monday Scoop
LSU takes series, Grove Bowl thoughts, and cool moment on the Korn Ferry Tour
Happy Monday to all. We’ve got a new podcast out with Collin Brister discussing Ole Miss’s series loss to LSU with some Grove Bowl thoughts at the end. Check it out here or anywhere you get your podcasts. There is a ton to dive into today.
Let’s go.
Ole Miss narrowly avoided being swept by LSU
The Rebels were an eight-run comeback away from being swept by a bad LSU team that would have obliterated their chances of earning a national and possibly hosting a regional — though all of that talk seems moot for the time being anyway — and is now 10-8 in the SEC. Ole Miss has lost four consecutive SEC series for the first time since 2002. I have some thoughts.
I won’t rehash this too much because I covered it in Friday’s newsletter, but what Derek Diamond did in place of Gunnar Hoglund, with roughly two-and-half hour’s notice, was remarkable. It’s a good sign for him and Ole Miss and it is a shame it was wasted by defensive gaffes and Taylor Broadway having a bad night. The team needs Diamond. Just look at the bullpen. I’d trust him to get outs. I imagine the coaching staff does too.
With as much heat as the bullpen has taken, Ole Miss is a really bad defensive team. It must get better if it wishes to go on any sort of run and reach its postseason aspirations. The way this lineup is constructed, the Rebels do not have the personnel to be an elite defensive team or even a very good defensive team, but they can be average, and frankly, being competent should be demanded. They’re bad at bunt defense and all too regularly boot routine plays. It cost them the game Thursday night and put them behind the eight ball on Friday. Again it’s not some arduous task to fix. Ole Miss needs to make the routine plays become just that: routine. The Rebels can live with T.J. McCants taking a poor angle on a ball in the gap or not quite snaring a fly ball that may have been within reach with a better jump. He’s an infielder playing tough position and doing the best he can. What you can’t survive with is Peyton Chatagnier not covering first base on routine bunt defense or infielders booting ground balls. If this team gets better at making basic plays, it will equate to more wins. They had better improve quickly too.
Doug Nikhazy had nothing going for him Friday night. He wasn’t locating and his stuff wasn’t sharp. He still managed to throw six innings and only allowed one earned run. That is an elite-level pitcher finding a way to get guys out when he’s not in his best form. He deserved a better fate than he received, starting with more run support. A.J. Labas was really good for LSU. Take nothing away from his sinking-fastball stifling the Rebels lineup, but a 126-pitch complete game is also indicative of Ole Miss having a poor approach at the plate. Friday’s performance was as lethargic of a performance as the team has had this year in a game it desperately needed to win. Not great.
Drew McDaniel was not good, but LSU was also very locked in and was incredibly good at the plate all weekend, but particularly on Saturday, as Mike Bianco noted in his postgame presser. I am not worried about McDaniel just yet but he would do well to rebound with a strong start next weekend against South Carolina.
About that comeback, it was pretty wild. I will admit I stopped paying attention to it until the McCants grand slam. Good on Ole Miss for not quitting. It looked like the Rebels were pressing at the plate for the first two games and most of the finale, and when things got as bad as they did, they kind of just said ‘to hell with it,’ and let it rip. It shows a couple of things: this team is never out of a game with this offense, and if they can find some sort of answer in the bullpen, they just might be alright. It also displays a resolve and a level of toughness this group has. They’ve played poorly for a month now and this weekend was as bad as any all season, and yet they still remained engaged and it paid off with a huge comeback win. The comeback does not fix or alter any of the lingering issues plaguing this group, but it wins like that can spark a team and propel it forward.
What a cool story Kemp Alderman wrote with his towering walk-off shot to end it in the ninth on Saturday. Alderman is an immensely talented kid that grew up dreaming to play for Ole Miss. He finally arrives as a highly-touted prospect, struggles in the fall, strikes out a ton and has some mechanical issues in his swing and is told he will redshirt. He works his tail off to fix the issues and improve and ends up finding his way on the field this year. As you saw on Saturday, Alderman has ridiculous power and his batting practice sessions have become urban legends. I didn’t know what to make of taking the redshirt off of him two months into the season, but after listening to Bianco talk about him, it sounds like he’s shown enough improvement to have the coaching staff believing that he can contribute to this team. In what capacity and how often remains to be seen, but I don’t think this would have happened had he not been in this team’s immediate plans as they head down the home stretch of the season. What a cool moment for Alderman. Let’s see where the story goes from here.
Speaking of the bullpen issues, the reason the Rebels were able to author such a dramatic comeback is largely due to the bullpen cobbling together 5.1 innings of one-run ball to prevent LSU from adding on. Jack Dougherty is responsible for 3.1 of those and I think he proved he has to be a go-to guy going forward. His stuff plays and he’s continuing to get guys out. Taylor Broadway looked more like himself and Tyler Myers got three outs in the eighth to set up the eight-run inning. Yes, Austin Miller struggled a bit immediately after McDaniel left, but the rest of the bullpen was pretty good on Saturday. Ole Miss can have a completely different outlook on its season if it is able to find just two or three guys in front of Broadway that it trusts. Wes Burton was pretty good on Friday all things considered, Forsyth was fine in a short stint, Dougherty and Myers looked good and Diamond looked like a different pitcher. All hope is not lost back there, even as bad as it has looked at times.
So here Ole Miss sits at 10-8 with 12 games to go and two weekends before the 16 hosting sites are announced. Everything else I am about to say is irrelevant if this team doesn’t play a cleaner brand of baseball. With that said, everything this group wants to accomplish is still there for the taking. A lot of good Ole Miss teams have been 10-8 or worse at this point in Bianco’s teams tend to finish the year strong. If the Rebels can put the pieces together over the next two weeks and reel off a 4-2 or 5-1 stretch, this current slog will look more like a blip on the radar. A lot must happen in order to accomplish that, but the sky isn’t falling yet even if it has looked rough for four weeks now.
We’re aiming to record a grill corner with Greg this week on the podcast. For now, the 16 oz. prime strip is still on and Greg says any fish in the freezer is $2 off. Thanks for subscribing and go enjoy. LB’s is the best place to get meat.
Around the SEC
Vanderbilt took 2 of 3 from Mississippi State - The Bulldogs were a mistake or two away from pulling off a series win and managed to win on the day Jack Leiter pitched. This one likely stings a bit, but still pretty impressive stuff on the road from Mississippi State. The Bulldogs are playing good baseball.
Tennessee took 2 of 3 from Texas A&M - The Vols are going to be a national seed. That is pretty wild considering where the program was a few short years ago.
Georgia took 2 of 3 from Missouri - Sure. Georgia seems aggressively average.
Florida took 2 of 3 at Auburn - Mission accomplished on the road. The Gators are pitching it better.
Arkansas took 2 of 3 at South Carolina - Arkansas is really damn good.
Kentucky took 2 of 3 from Alabama - A missed opportunity for the Tide to put themselves in good position to earn a bid to the NCAA Tournament.
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Ole Miss had its spring game Saturday
If you’re a regular reader, you know I have trouble getting too fired up about a scrimmage in April, but I have a few thoughts.
Ole Miss sold a party and seemingly delivered, critical crowd shots aside. I thought Kiffin and the football staff branded this thing well and their goal seems to be to sell the Rebels as a program on the rise that does things a little differently and has a hell of a lot of fun doing it. If that was in fact what they were going for, then mission accomplished.
Matt Corral is going to be even better in 2021. He’s got stability for the first time in his career and it showed in the spring game. He knows he is the man and that this is his team. He was decisive and confident. I am willing to bet having a second year in the same system for the first time will quell some of the turnover issues that plagued him and that Corral will have a monster 2021 campaign.
The talent of Braylon Sanders has been masked by his inability to stay on the field. Ole Miss needs a healthy Sanders next fall. If he does, he is a talented deep threat that will open up other parts of the field for Corral and the other receivers. The best is yet to come for Sanders if he can stay on the field.
I am no schematic savant when it comes to defense, but the unit looks and talks more confidently. It seems like a group that is tired of hearing how bad they are and now has a base level of talent in place to improve their standing as the worst defense in the SEC. I think they accomplish that and the Rebels surprise some folks next year on the defensive side of the ball.
I saw varying opinions on how the two backup quarterbacks played. I thought Kinkead Dent looked fine and that Luke Altmeyer looked like a high school senior learning to adjust to the speed skill of the next level of football. It’s not a knock and is only natural. I don’t take much away from this, other than that I do think moving Plumlee away from QB permanently might be tough to do. He can play receiver, sure. But if Corral misses any amount of time, I have a hard time believe the coaching staff will trust either guy that was out there on Saturday. Maybe I am wrong, but I think some version of quarterback is still in Plumlee’s future.
A cool moment at the Korn Ferry event
I got to follow Hayden Buckley around for a couple of days at the Korn Ferry stop in Arlington over the weekend. A second-round 63 got him to five back entering round three, but he struggled on the weekend. It was fun watching a friend play golf and it was good catching up. I was also reminded of just how insane the Korn Ferry Tour is. The lead after three rounds was 21-under par and the winner, Tyson Alexander, finished at 23-under for the weekend. Basically, for the first three days, if you didn’t shoot five-under-par, you lost ground on the top of the leaderboard. Jonathan Randolph shot 7-under in round one and was two back of the lead after a day. By the time he teed off in round two, he was only two clear of the cut line, which ended up moving to 6-under at the end of two days.
Anyway, I am rambling and this is probably not interesting but it is insane how good these guys are and they aren’t even to the top level of the sport yet. Golf is hard. Professional golf is grueling.
I did see a pretty cool moment on Sunday. After chatting up with Buckley and parting ways, I sat near the 18th green to watch the finish. The guy pictured above is named Hylton “J.J.” James. He is Ben Kohles’ caddie. Kohles is the only player in the history of the Korn Ferry win both of his first two professional events in 2012, fresh out of college. The early success didn’t stick. Kohles lost his PGA Tour card after just one season and has toiled around primarily on the Korn Ferry Tour and other minor league circuits over the last seven years. At 14th in the standings this year, Kholes has found his game again is now in line to return to the PGA Tour. He will do so J.J. on the bag. J.J. has. been a caddie for 40 years and has worked with for likes of Steve Pate and Jeff Sluman. He turned 80 years old on Sunday, just under two years removed from suffering a heart attack on the course at a Korn Ferry event in Kansas City, and had open-heart surgery shortly after. As Kohles and J.J. walked up the 18th fairway and onto the green, the couple hundred gathered around began to sing “Happy Birthday”, which produced a beaming smile and a couple of waves. It was a pretty cool moment for a lifer in the sport.
Hilton 'JJ' James is nearly 80 years old. He has been caddying for most of his life. This month, he underwent triple bypass surgery. And the #WebTour community is rallying in support. pgat.us/JJFundraiserAlso, I watched Kohles and J.J. have a celebratory drink on the practice green with the winner, Tyson Alexander. J.J. was sipping some sort of liquor drink when a fan walked by and playfully yelled “80 years is nothing!”
“Yeah, well try carrying a golf bag for 60 of them,” J.J. hollered back.
People can be cool sometimes. It was a nice moment.
On the horizon:
Shooting for a Wednesday grill corner with Greg so get your questions in now
Newsletters on golf, football, baseball and whatever else pops up.
Baseball preview and Mailbag Friday with Collin
That is all from me today. Thanks for being a loyal subscriber. Tell your friends to join in on the fun. Back with more tomorrow.
