Rippee Writes: Thursday Scoop
golf, baseball and more
Happy Thursday to all. We have a new podcast out with LBs Greg in other edition of Grill Corner. Check it out here or anywhere you get your podcasts. Greg also explained the pee hay incident, among other horse racing things. We’ve got a ton to dive into today.
Let’s go.
Hoglund out for year with torn UCL
It was unfortunately the worst-case scenario for Gunnar Hoglund and Ole Miss. Hoglund will undergo Tommy John Surgery on May 18 and it will be performed by Dr. James Andrews. This just sucks all around. Forget the team aspect of it for a second. There were plenty of scenarios in which Hoglund never pitches again for Ole Miss that did not involve TJ surgery and being on the shelf for over a year. I hate it for him and the bright future he still has ahead. This will likely cost Hoglund a little bit in next month’s draft. I still don’t see any way he falls out of the first round and he will be compensated quite nicely, but having this interrupt beginning your professional career, something he’s dreamed about since he was a child, is gut-wrenching. Here’s to hoping for a quick recovery and that he comes back better than ever.
As far as Ole Miss is concerned, this is a devastating but not catastrophic blow. Yes, so much of this team was built around Hoglund and Nikhazy, and its no secret the Rebels’ functionality hinged upon their rotation. But there is still plenty left in the tank with this group. I firmly believe that and I promise I am not an eternal optimist when it comes to this. It has never my job to be one. To put it bluntly, this team’s fate now rests solely on the shoulders of Derek Diamond. That sentence may make you cringe upon reading it, but it shouldn't. Diamond is a talented kid who earned a spot in the weekend rotation for a preseason top-15 team as a true freshman in 2020. He was once a Stanford commit. The kid has talent and it’s now of paramount importance that he harnesses it and elevates his performance for a team that desperately needs it. I’ll frame it this way: would you be shocked at all if Diamond threw six innings of one-run ball Saturday? I wouldn’t. He’s done it multiple times. Go watch the Texas, Auburn or Alabama starts. With that said, I also would be as equally unsurprised if he made it through two innings and then completely imploded with two outs. That’s what’s plagued him this year. The point in all of this is that the ability is there. Whether or not he can generate consistency will determine this team’s fate. Ole Miss has enough to win a regional and a super regional with the best version of Diamond. But with anything less than that, it doesn’t stand much of a chance.
The trickle-down effect of Diamond entering the rotation (Mike Bianco said it would be Nikhazy, Diamond, McDaniel this weekend) is that Bianco is going to have to trust someone in the bullpen he currently doesn’t trust. Whether that is Braden Forsyth, Wes Burton, Austin Miller or Jackson Kimbrell, one if not more than one of those guys are going to have to contribute in meaningful situations and be good. Ole Miss doesn’t have a prayer if they don’t. Miller has pelts on the wall, Forsyth has the stuff and Wes Burton has gotten outs more times than he hasn’t. Which one of them joins Diamond as the two most important players for the season’s final month?
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Magnolia State Golf update
We’ll have the usual update and then I have a rant, if you’ll humor me.
The PGA Tour is in Dallas this week for the Byron Nelson. No Mississippians in the field, to my knowledge. There will be next year. Cheers to that.
The Korn Ferry Tour is in Knoxville this week. Four of the usual five Mississippians are in the field.
Tupelo native and Mizzou alum Hayden Buckley tees off at 7:45 this morning and 12:15 tomorrow afternoon. Buckley sits 36th in the points standings and has yet to find consistent form since his February win in Florida that vaulted him into 27th. The beauty of his current position is that he’s one high finish away from jumping inside the top-25 slots that earn PGA Tourd cards. Let’s hope it’s this week
Ole Miss alum Braden Thornberry tees off at 9:25 this morning and 1:55 tomorrow. Thornberry is 51st in the points standings and is coming off his first made cut in three weeks.
Tupelo area native and Mississippi State alum Chad Ramey tees off at 8:45 this morning and 1:15 tomorrow afternoon. Ramey has made 14 consecutive cuts, has only missed three total in the 30 events in this wraparound season. That is as remarkably consistent a run of golf as you’ll see at the professional level. He’s 9th in the standings — without a win, which is mind-boggling to think about from a consistency standpoint — and is well in line to graduate to the PGA Tour.
Ole Miss alum Jonathan Randolph tees off at 7:55 this morning and 12:25 tomorrow. Randolph has had a frustrating year but is coming off a top 25 finish last week. He’s 96th in the standings and his eyes should be focused on getting into the top 75 that qualify for the Korn Ferry Tour Finals in which an additional 25 Tour cards are awarded.
Hattiesburg native and Alabama alum Davis Riley appears to have taken the week off, a rarity on this tour. But he’s certainly earned it. Riley passed the fail safe threshold in the standings two weeks ago, meaning he’s accrued enough points to guarantee his graduation to the PGA Tour next year. Riley was a victim of this wraparound season. He won twice in 2020 before the covid shutdown and was essentially biding his time in 2021. Congrats to him on a well-earned break and a impressively quick ascent in professional golf.
The 16 oz prime strip for $10 deal is still rolling but you can now get a second one for $15 bucks if you want more than one. Also, you get $2 off any fish in the freezer. Thanks for subscribing and enjoy. Go by LBs. They’re the best.
Rebels advance in Baton Rouge Regional despite not swinging a club
The Baton Rouge Regional was canceled yesterday without a single ball being put into play. The Ole Miss Women’s golf team advanced by merit of being a top 6 seed.
Weather delayed the planned Monday start of the tournament and Tuesday was washed out as well due to wet conditions despite clear skies in the afternoon. Rather than try to play Tuesday afternoon, or 36 holes on Wednesday (or even just 18 holes), the NCAA, presumably collaborating with the golf course staff, elected to scrap the regional all together and allow the top six seeds to automatically advance. That means, if you're a 7-12 seed, your season was ended by someone else rather than your performance. In this case, your season was ended by a bunch of selfish buffoons who either do not care enough to formulate a plan to try to hold a competition or are simply too incompetent to be put in charge of a golf tournament.
The decision to cancel this regional, given the circumstances surrounding it, is an absolute disgrace. According to the NCAA's rulebook, this tournament had to end by Wednesday, despite the NCAA Championships not starting until the 21st. Stupid, but fine. It didn't rain a drop on Wednesday. The excuse given was that the course was in fact playable, just not at 'a championship level,' whatever the hell that means.
Several walked the course and were baffled it was deemed unplayable. Some said there wasn't a single pump used to drain the course -- a basic and common piece of grounds keeping equipment at any course of remotely decent stature -- and that teams were told they couldn't even use the practice areas after play was canceled each day.
Yet, it was fine for the LSU Men's team to practice on. Yes, seriously.
Can you imagine being a COVID senior on one of the six teams that didn't make it through? You came back after having last year wiped away by the pandemic, only to have your career end in a parking lot after being told you can't play on the course because no one put in any effort to get it in shape after a heavy rain? They should have just been more honest and said "we don't care about you or your career and we don't want the course torn up because it is wet and we are too lazy to try to come up with a solution. Mississippi State was in this regional as well and was not a top six seed. The Bulldogs' season is over now. Let's be honest here. Do you think the selection committee agonized over six and seven seeds and what regional they'd be sent to? I'm guessing no, and that's not a shot a the committee, it's just pointing out the sheer unluckiness of being seeded in an unfortunate spot and being placed in a regional run by selfish morons.
This decision is a shame for all involved.
On the horizon:
- No mailbag Friday. I am traveling today so we will push it to Sunday, but we do have a Vanderbilt series preview podcast dropping later this evening.
- Longform story that I have been teasing for a while drops next week
- Vanderbilt scout in tomorrow's newsletter.
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