No. 18 Ole Miss had a plan to handle No. 6 Mississippi State’s red-hot ace pitcher.
And it felt like the plan might actually work, at least for a moment. Run up the pitch count, get Tomas Valincius out early, and see what happens late. Ole Miss did the first part. The second never came.
Because this wasn’t just about one pitcher or one inning. It was about a lineup that keeps getting chances and keeps coming up empty. Even when the door cracked open, nothing walked through it.
Now the Rebels head into Sunday with one thing left to play for, and a question that’s getting harder to ignore: what, exactly, is this offense capable of right now?
At the Plate
One reason winning Friday mattered so much is because winning Saturday, with or without Cade Townsend, was always going to be tough.
Tomas Valincius hadn’t allowed an earned run in 14 innings of SEC play. He’d only given up four hits and three walks while striking out 21. Given how the Ole Miss lineup has looked lately, the odds weren’t great that the Rebels would be the ones to cool him off.
So the goal was simple: run up his pitch count and get him out of the game as fast as possible. Ole Miss actually did that. Valincius threw 44 pitches in the first two innings and was done after five innings and 90 pitches.
It was his earliest exit from an SEC game this season, and Ole Miss had to be relieved he didn’t come back out for the sixth. Even then, the Rebels managed only three hits and six total baserunners while striking out nine times.
That’s when the bats finally showed a little life. Brendan Sweeney hit the first batter he faced and walked the next. Two batters later, Dom Decker drove in the first run for Ole Miss.
Decker adds one pic.twitter.com/sIRgJdSx47
— Ole Miss Baseball (@OleMissBSB) March 28, 2026
If Mississippi State hadn’t scored three runs in the top half of the inning to make it 6-0, the game would’ve entered the final third with a very different feel.
But that didn’t happen, and the Rebels played the way we’ve seen them play. A strikeout with two runners on to end the seventh, a leadoff single in the eighth left stranded and a Tristan Bissetta strikeout to end the game with a runner on third.
Ole Miss finished 3-for-19 with runners on base and 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position. Just more of the same offensive issues that have plagued this team for the last month.
On the Mound
Hudson Calhoun did relatively well through three innings against Mississippi State. It was only his second start this season, and he allowed just one run on two hits with one walk and four strikeouts.
B2B Ks for #23‼️ pic.twitter.com/SHhFCkEkMj
— Ole Miss Baseball (@OleMissBSB) March 28, 2026
In a game where Ole Miss had to know what its offense was likely to do against Tomas Valincius (see above), that’s a good start. The plan was probably to keep the game close until Valincius exited and then hope the Rebels’ bats finally woke up.
The wheels on that plan began to wobble in the fourth inning. Armchair baseball managers will say Calhoun should have been pulled after three, but he looked sharp to end the third. He struck out Ace Reese for the final out.
So don’t jump too quickly on that bandwagon. It only looks like a mistake in hindsight.
And it looks that way because he opened the fourth with a full-count walk, a single and another walk to load the bases. That ended his day, and Wil Libbert, making his first bullpen appearance, couldn’t escape without damage. He did limit the Bulldogs to two runs, keeping the score at a manageable 3-0.
It became a lot less manageable in the sixth when Libbert gave up back-to-back home runs. From there, the mission for Ole Miss pitchers became simple: no more runs. That’s not easy to do against Mississippi State, but Owen Hancock managed it for 3.2 innings and got five strikeouts.
Pitching Decisions
- WP: Tomas Valincius (6-0), 5 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 9 K, 1 WP, 1 HP, 90 TP, 55 ST
- LP: Hudson Calhoun (1-2), 3 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 4 K, 68 TP, 36 ST
Ole Miss Batting Leaders
- Dom Decker: 2-3, 1 RBI, 1 BB
- Judd Utermark: 1-4, 1 BB
- Will Furniss: 1-3, 1 BB
- Topher Jones: 1-3
Next Up
The Rebels can’t win the series, but avoiding a sweep at the hands of their biggest rival, on their home field, would keep the weekend from being a total disaster.
Fortunately for Ole Miss, one of its best pitchers is scheduled to start Sunday’s finale. Sophomore Cade Townsend (2-0, 0.92 ERA) will return after missing last weekend’s series against Kentucky. He’ll face Mississippi State’s Duke Stone (4-0, 4.10 ERA).
First pitch is set for 3 p.m. on SEC Network.
