Rippee Writes: Wednesday Scoop
Ole Miss beats Austin Peay, Cioffi out, McDaniel in, Magnolia State Golf update
Happy Wednesday. We’ve got a new podcast out with LBs Greg answering all of your grilling-related questions, including one hell of a story about the origins of Hoover Sauce, the local seasoning community and more. Check it out here or anywhere you get your podcasts. This will be a baseball-centric newsletter today as Mike Bianco tried his best Walter Cronkite impression after the team’s 13-1 win over Austin Peay State last night.
Let’s dive in.
Baker goes 4-4 in rout of Austin Peay
Cael Baker went 4-4 with a home run and drove in six runs last night. Obviously, this is a great sign for both Baker and Ole Miss. The Kenny Powers look-alike has had a hellish year between missing the first weekend with COVID and breaking a hamate bone in his wrist that cost him six weeks of the season. I’d like to see Baker do this against SEC pitching — rather than mid 80s fastballs with little life from a 10-20 Austin Peay group — before making any sweeping changes to my opinion on Baker being a heavy contributor in the lineup, but it is a great opportunity to spark him nonetheless. Baker has had his struggles against high velocity and sharper-bending stuff, but less of the former has hampered him this year and more of the latter, coupled with injuries and COVID. The point I am trying to make is there is still an argument for a lack of sample size on Baker if you view it strictly through the lens of the 2021 season. But for now, good for him on a great night. Let’s see if it continues.
Dougherty Dazzles
Who? I am guessing I had the same reaction as many of you up on true freshman Jack Dougherty’s entrance to the game last night and particularly what he did after. The 6-foot-4 right-hander whizzed fastballs at 92-93 and painted both sides of the plate. He struck out five of the six hitters he faced and did not come close to allowing a hit. Austin Peay would have struggled to make contact with a tennis racquet. What a bizarrely delightful story this is. From watching Mike Bianco’s press conference last night, the best I can gather is Dougherty is a kid the staff intended on redshirting this year. He was “okay” in the fall, as Bianco put it, and hovered 86-89 with the fastball and had varying feel for anything else. Dougherty got stronger in the weight room, refined his pitch mix a tad and forced his way into getting on the field. Bianco said he talked with Dougherty before the game about giving him a shot and, man, did he make the most of it.
I have absolutely no idea what to make of this. All I know is 93 on the corner is 93 on the corner, no matter who is standing in the batter’s box. I have no idea if this kid will pitch a meaningful inning for Ole Miss this year. Hell, I had to be reminded who he is and where he came from (Collierville, Tennessee) last night. I think his opportunity was born out of necessity as the Rebels lost another reliever for the season (more on that in a minute) and struggled last weekend with the arms they did have healthy. Credit to Bianco for being creative and digging deep into the barrel to find a spark. Whether that turns into a flame and Dougherty becomes an unsung hero remains to be seen. Bianco hesitated to commit to him being in the mix this weekend. All I know is that if things get squirrely in the seventh inning of a rubber game Sunday, and Bianco has exhausted his usual bullets back there, Dougherty’s name will be brought up. Good for him. What a potentially fun storyline.
Cioffi out for the year
Bianco announced last night that Max Cioffi will miss the rest of the year with a UCL injury. The senior right-hander made one appearance on opening weekend against Texas Tech, then missed nearly six weeks with a knee injury that required surgery, returned on April 5 for an inning against North Alabama, and now an MRI has discovered a UCL tear in his elbow, which requires Tommy John Surgery more times than not. It is a bummer for the kid, who worked his way past the knee thing, only to have a devastating elbow injury end his season. Ole Miss could desperately use Cioffi’s services in high-leverage situations. When healthy, he is a great option to use between the starting pitcher and Taylor Broadway, an area of game action that has been an adventure for Ole Miss at times this year. Cioffi did not allow an earned run and surrendered us three hits over eight innings in six appearances before the shutdown last year. He struck out 38 hitters in 30 innings in 2019 and walked just nine.
You get the point. He misses barrels and that is exactly what Ole Miss needs now. The Rebels can survive without him, but it’s another blow to a team that has had some peculiar injury luck this season. This group is one more injured pitcher away from being in a little bit of a pinch in terms of depth and flexibility in the bullpen. Most of all, I hope Cioffi recovers and is able to end his career the right way, however and wherever that may be.
McDaniel to replace Diamond this weekend
Bianco announced this after the game. I’ll have more thoughts on this tomorrow and Friday, but this is of course the right move. The bottom line is this: Ole Miss will now have its three best starting pitchers on the mound each day against Mississippi State this weekend. You can argue it was a week too late, or even three weeks too late, but the fact is that the move is now made and we will now see if the results are more favorable. Diamond fell into too many early holes in his last two starts and allowed entirely too much hard contact. Again, I’ll have a more complete thought on this tomorrow, but this is the right call.
Magnolia State Golf Update: (all tee times CT)
The PGA Tour is at Harbor Town this week for The Heritage
No Mississippians in the field, but as I say every week, one day very soon there will multiple.
The Korn Ferry Tour is in Vegas this week
While I championed for Will Zalatoris to show up and play here just to spite the system (kind of kidding), he won’t be there. But five Mississippians will.
Tupelo native and Mizzou alum Hayden Buckley tees off at 9:54 a.m. on Thursday and 3:09 Friday. Buckley won the first event of the 2021 wraparound season and sits 28th in the points standings, three slots shy of the 25th spot that earns him a PGA Tour card
Davis Riley should be on Tour right now after a pair of Korn Ferry wins in 2020, but the pandemic has him stuck waiting. Will Bardwell of Lying Four wrote a great piece on the Hattiesburg native and Alabama alum. I’d encourage you to read it. Riley tees it up 9:22 a.m. Thursday and 2:37 p.m. Friday. Riley is 4th in the points standings and is essentially just playing a waiting game in terms of realizing his PGA Tour dream.
Mississippi State alum Chad Ramey tees it up at 9:01 a.m. on Thursday and 2:21 on Friday. Ramey is a top 10 machine and sits 7th in the points standings despite not having a win. He’s well in line to earn a Tour card.
Ole Miss alum Jonathan Randolph tees off at 1:45 p.m. on Thursday at 8:30 a.m. on Friday. The journeyman sits 97th in the standings and needs a strong summer to be in the mix for PGA Tour status. He’s missed the cut in seven of his last nine events
Ole Miss alum Braden Thornberry tees off at 10:25 a.m. on Thursday and 3:40 p.m. on Friday. Thornberry sits at 46th in the standings and is well within striking distance to get into that coveted top 25.
On the horizon:
Mailbag Friday with Collin Brister
Old radio partner Brian Hadad will join to preview a huge series with Mississippi State
Two more newsletters with a Bulldogs scouting report on Friday and SEC picks
Thanks for reading and have a great Wednesday. Share with your friends and tell them to join the fun by hitting subscribe below.