Wednesday scoop
An injury, loud noises and Les Miles out at Kansas
Happy Wednesday morning to you all. A quick programming note: on Monday, I teased a podcast with former Andy Kennedy staffer Bracken Ray that would drop today. We’ve had a slight schedule change as Bracken had the audacity to have a job and work schedule instead of doing a podcast hit that pays him nothing. In all seriousness, we’ll record tonight and drop it immediately or first thing in the morning. We’ll hit all things Ole Miss, the bubble and March Madness as a whole as the Rebels fight for the NCAA Tournament lives in Nashville this week. As always with Bracken, it will be great stuff you won’t want to miss.
With that out of the way, let’s get into it.
Nikhazy sidelined:
Ole Miss beat Alcorn State, 11-1, last night, but the real story came after the game when Mike Bianco told the local media that Doug Nikhazy would be held from his next start on Friday nigh start against ULM with a grade two pectoralis minor strain, an injury to the muscle that connects the chest to the shoulder. It won’t require surgery, according to Bianco, and is similar to a strained hamstring in the sense that the only real remedy is rest. The difficult part is that it’s a lot easier to test the state of a hamstring strain, whereas, with this injury the only test mechanism is for Nikhazy to throw. The staff is hopeful that a few days off will quell the discomfort that began two weeks ago. Nikhazy will be reevaluated next week.
What’s this mean? Well, I guess the first sign something was up came with Tuesday’s lineup card when Josh Mallitz — who pitched quite well — earned his first career start in place of the usual midweek man Drew McDaniel. Gunnar Hoglund moves up to Friday night with McDaniel filling in on Saturday and Derek Diamond sliding to Sunday. Bianco sounded confident in McDaniel, who has a 1.93 ERA in two starts and a relief appearance this year. The right hander’s given up five runs (two earned) on eight hits with 13 strikeouts and four walks across 9.1 innings this season. Translation: he’s flashed swing-and-miss stuff but has had a bit of poor luck and been punished for his mistakes.
Here’s the thought I’ll leave you with: what happens if Nikhazy can’t go against Auburn? Friday is not an issue. Hoglund may end up being the team’s ace even if he throws on Saturdays. If McDaniel pitches well this weekend, he’ll presumably get a crack at SEC hitting next weekend. What if he struggles against the Warhawks? Does Bianco cross his fingers and ride it out with him one more time and hope Nikhazy is back the next week at Alabama? Does he bump Diamond to Saturday and fire whatever is left in the bullpen on Sunday? Would Tyler Myers be an alternative option to start a game? Myers started what ended up being a bullpen day last Wednesday against Jackson State. There’s a number of ways to go and the easiest solution is for McDaniel to pitch well this weekend and then see where Nikhazy is health-wise early next week. Ole Miss has had some weird injury luck this year between Nikhazy, Max Cioffi missing three weeks, Peyton Chatagnier’s hamstring issue and Trey LaFluer’s minor hamstring tweak. None of this is catastrophic, of course, but you don’t want to wade too deep into SEC play without your army at full strength.
Ole Miss won a baseball game on Tuesday:
Tim Elko had another multi-hit game. Consistency is the name of the game for Elko as simple as that sounds. Can he carry an offense for a month? The opponent matters less here when you view it through the lens of putting together another productive performance after a career weekend at the plate. SEC play will be another challenge to tackle, but he's as hot as he's been in his career as it approaches.
What else from this game stuck out? Mallitz pitched well, as did Cody Adcock — who has yet to allow a run this season and just four hits across 4.2 innings and four appearances. One last small note: Ole Miss drew ten walks yesterday against a poor pitching staff. This is to be expected, but perhaps a positive sign for a lineup that's been guilty of chasing at times this season and not stringing together quality at bats. The opponent makes it hard to analyze a whole lot, but I think that's worth noting.
Loud vehicle guy:
I guess some version of my annoyance with the general public will become a staple of the midweek newsletter. Last week it was Doing Business On The Throne Guy. This week, after nearly wetting my pants at a stoplight yesterday because the Audi next to me sounded like a chainsaw as it peeled out when the light turned green, it’s Loud Vehicle Guy. I do not understand loud pipes on cars and trucks. In Mississippi, it's usually just trucks. The higher the lift the higher the chances of the unpleasant sound. Since moving to Texas, I have noticed these things are literally everywhere, on any make or model. Trucks, RAV4s, you name it. At this rate, a Punchbug is going to terrorize me at an intersection next week.
Could someone help me understand loud pipes guy? It was a big thing in high school. I get that. First car, you want to add bells and whistles and it sounds great leaving football practice. It was somewhat a thing in college for dudes that really wanted to let people know they live a bad boy lifestyle. But beyond that, I don't understand the appeal of an adult wanting a shotgun to go off every time they hit the gas pedal. Is it a way of expressing excitement you can't articulate through words? If that's the case, a less annoying way to do that would be to follow the method babies use: strap on a diaper and let it fly whenever you're too giddy. It can't be enjoyable on long trips. You can't hear yourself think, much less listen to music or a podcast. If you're a loud pipes guy over the age of 25, I'd like to talk. I just want to understand.
Les Miles out at Kansas:
Woof. What an ugly scene unfolding in Baton Rouge surrounding former LSU Coach Les Miles. I don't have a ton of profound thoughts about yet another high-profile college coach not being who he publically touts himself to be, and is not only ignored but enabled by the athletic department because of the insane amount of power the position yields, but I do kind of sit here in awe at the totality of scandals that have surfaced in Baton Rouge involving LSU over the last 24 months. Can we still count them on one hand? Wiretap Will (Wade) and his troubles with some pesky organization called the Federal Bureau of Investigation now, amazingly, seems like a minor blip on the radar in the larger picture of corruption. What a world
Miles' actions were both creepy and wrong. As shocked as I am that a man that eats turf is not a straight shooter, he was rightfully fired by Kansas earlier this week. It was a disastrous hire in a long string of disastrous hires. I think search firms are often a waste of money when hiring a coach, but Kansas behaving in such a manner for over a decade has swayed my opinion slightly. They're not conducting a coaching search in mid-March and the man that hired Miles, Jeff Long, says he has it under control. Sounds pretty bullet proof to me.
I saw this sentiment shared across social media yesterday and I think I agree. The Jayhawks should implement the triple option. There is no possible way it could fail any worse and what do you have to lose.
Read up on this situation if you haven't. Here's the original USA Today reporting that sparked all of this. It is not pretty.
What’s on the horizon:
—Podcast with Bracken Ray
— Newsletter tomorrow with Magnolia State Golf update-- Mailbag Friday and Ole —--Miss podcast with Collin Brister
That's all from me. More to come. Have a great Wednesday. Tell your friends to subscribe.