Ole Miss’s trip to Omaha came to a sudden stop on Sunday and the way it happened felt painfully familiar.
The Rebels watched a four-run lead disappear as Troy scored 10 runs over five innings to pull off a 12-8 comeback win and knock Ole Miss out of the College World Series.
Fans watched it all season long. They just couldn’t get it work consistently anywhere in the postseason.
The loss closes the book on a 41-23 season for the Rebs. It also continues a trend that showed up again and again this year.
The pitching staff couldn’t hold a lead and the offense couldn’t string together enough early production to make up for it.
Hunter Elliott took the mound Sunday in what might end up being his last start in an Ole Miss uniform.
For most of the afternoon he looked like the same steady arm Rebels fans have come to know. He worked through trouble in earlier innings and kept Troy within reach.
That changed in the fifth. With the bases loaded and two outs Elliott was called for a weird-looking balk, which let in the first of three Troy runs that inning.
Right after that a two-RBI single from Sean Darnell chased Elliott from the game.
“No explanation on (the balk call). Surprise, maybe a little. But it is what it is,” Elliott said. “I needed to make the next pitch, and I didn’t get off the field there. The balk doesn’t kill you if you don’t give up the base hit right after. So it is what it is.”
Darnell wasn’t done damaging Ole Miss either.
He’d already hit a two-run home run in the top of the second that tied the game at 2-2, a sign of things to come for Troy’s lineup.
Bullpen couldn’t slow down Troy’s lineup
Once Elliott left the game things didn’t get easier for Ole Miss. It got much worse fast.
JP Robertson and Walker Hooks came out of the bullpen next and the two combined to allow five runs on five hits, all earned. It echoed Friday’s game against North Carolina when the bullpen also couldn’t keep things close.
Hooks struggled in both outings and some of that may come down to tired arms after a postseason that leaned heavily on a small group of relievers.
Whatever the reason, Troy’s lineup kept finding ways to add on runs and the Rebels couldn’t slow it down.
Offensively Ole Miss wasn’t quiet. The Rebels put up eight runs on 12 hits and got home runs from Brayden Randle, Collin Reuter and Will Furniss.
On most days that kind of power would be enough to push past Troy and into Tuesday’s next elimination game.
The problem was where the production came from. Hitters five through nine combined to go 9-for-23 with six RBIs and two home runs while the top of the order managed just 3-for-16 with two RBIs and one homer from Furniss.
Top-heavy lineup let Troy seize control
Ole Miss coach Mike Bianco pointed to that imbalance after the game.
“They got all the big hits, and that’s happened in our two games,” Bianco said. “When you get to this point and everybody’s so good, it’s about the at-bats and making pitches and getting off the field. It’s about having a big hit.”
That sums up the Rebels’ season in a lot of ways. There were big wins built on big swings and big innings, and there were tough losses when the pitching staff couldn’t close the door.
Sunday’s elimination game in Omaha showed both sides of that coin in the same afternoon, and it ended Ole Miss’s season.
