Coca-Cola Classic Game 2: Mercer Bears

[oxfordrebel]

Top of 9th; Rebels last chance

Rebels MUST have 2 runs to force the bottom of the 9th.

Button singles to left; runner on 1st; no outs
Miller hits into a fielder's choice, 5-4; runner at 1st; 1 out
***Hubbard to pinch hit***
Hubbard grounds into the fielder's choice, 6-4; runner at 1st; 2 outs
Basham gets a base hit between 3rd and SS; runners at 1st and 2nd; 2 outs
***Hightower comes in to pinch run for Basham***
Henry grounds out to pitcher, 1-3; game over

0 R; 2H; 0 ERR; 2 LOB

Final:

Rebels 11
Bears 13

[oxfordrebel]

Well, go ahead and get that first loss out of the way early I suppose...

Dang...that was HORRIBLE! I've never heard a worse defensive performance by a Rebel baseball team in the past 5 years.

Still, only the 2nd game. Time to do some evaluation on some pitchers.

[rebelliousb]

painful.

[ThunderReb]

Truly sad that the #6 team in the nation isn't prepared to play in only the second game of the season. Sad....

[Heath]

Who all pitched. The bats warmed up, thank goodness. The box score is not up yet on olemisssports.com. I was just wondering how many pitchers we used in this game. Hopefully, we used a lot and not just 1 or 2 guys left out there to get pounded.

[OMNOB]

"Eff-bomb"

[rewalters]

Losing is one thing, but to lose and score 11 runs is just freaking pathetic.

[oxfordrebel]

Who all pitched. The bats warmed up, thank goodness. The box score is not up yet on olemisssports.com. I was just wondering how many pitchers we used in this game. Hopefully, we used a lot and not just 1 or 2 guys left out there to get pounded.

4 pitchers. Corrigan, Bukvich, McKean, Goforth

None of them pitched very well at all. Corrigan did well to start but got rattled when guys got on base.

[lewindha]

Not a good start to the season. Beat Liberty by 1 and lose to Mercer.

Not impressed. I know it's early, but we're not supposed to lose to these teams.

[oxfordrebel]

Not a good start to the season. Beat Liberty by 1 and lose to Mercer.

Not impressed. I know it's early, but we're not supposed to lose to these teams.

Give them time. None of us really knew what to expect going into this season with so many new players.

On the upside I think Barrett and Corrigan will be pretty good pitchers for us once they get used to the level of competition they're facing now. Both started strong.

I also think Mort will be okay at SS. He did commit an error against Liberty and he only has 1 hit in 8 ABs thus far, but he was fielding well today. We need some stability at that position after last season.

Power and Basham came outta the shoot like a rocket! Henry seems to be seeing the ball a little better than last year so far.

More offensive power today which felt good, but you can't score 11 runs and lose a game. I'm trying to see a silver lining, but still very disappointing.

[oxfordrebel]

The Rebels will close out the 2009 Coca-Cola Classic against the host team, the University of South Alabama Jaguars. Here are some quick facts:

Conference: Sun Belt

Website: University of South Alabama Athletics

Current Record: 1-2 (0-0 A-Sun)

Current W/L Streak: L2

Current rank:
USA is not ranked nor did they receive votes in any polls.

Current Pseudo-RPI (Boyd's World): 2009 RPIs have not been released yet.

Team Stats: No status until after opening weekend

2008 Final Record: 32-25 (15-15 Sun Belt)

All-time Series Record: The Rebels hold a 17-13 advantage over the Jaguars. The Jaguars had a 12-6 advantage at one time; however the Rebels have won 11 of the past 12 meetings including all 7 meetings since 2004. USA is 9-6 against Ole Miss when playing at Stanky Field.

Projected Starter (2008 Stats):
LHP Lance Baxter - 6.42 ERA; 4-5; 9 Starts; 19 Appearances; 68.2 IP; 92 H; 61 R; 49 ER; 27 BB; 48K

Other notes:

First pitch is set for 2:30 pm Saturday; however it may be delayed due to Liberty and Mercer playing earlier.

USA lost to Liberty twice on Saturday. The Jaguars lost 5-2 in the early game. In the nightcap the Jags had a 3-2 lead on the Flames in the bottom of the 9th with 2 outs. But the Flames got the unimaginable. Flames 3B Tyler Bream doubled on an 0-2 pitch then scored on a single to force extra innings. In the 10th inning the Flames got three straight singles to score the winning run and down the Jags, 4-3. The Jaguars defeated Mercer 9-2 on Friday night.

The Jags return 5 starters; however they lost both middle infielders and two starting outfielders plus 9 pitchers.

The guy to watch will be David Doss. The Sr. catcher has rewritten the USA history books offensively and is ranked in the top 10 in several categories in All-time NCAA history.

While Matt Jackson is the pitching staff ace, Lance Baxter (who we will see) is tapped to be the Saturday pitcher in the rotation for the Jags.

Head Coach Steve Kittrell is in his 26 season as the skipper of the Jags and has an all-time record of 999-580-1. Yes, you read that correctly. He will be going for his 1,000th career win when he faces the Rebels on Sunday. He would be just the 50th NCAA head coach ever to achive 1,000 wins. Hopefully the Rebels can keep him at 999 for one more game.

[oxpatchreb]

Not a good start to the season. Beat Liberty by 1 and lose to Mercer.

Not impressed. I know it's early, but we're not supposed to lose to these teams.

Give them time. None of us really knew what to expect going into this season with so many new players.

On the upside I think Barrett and Corrigan will be pretty good pitchers for us once they get used to the level of competition they're facing now. Both started strong.

I also think Mort will be okay at SS. He did commit an error against Liberty and he only has 1 hit in 8 ABs thus far, but he was fielding well today. We need some stability at that position after last season.

Power and Basham came outta the shoot like a rocket! Henry seems to be seeing the ball a little better than last year so far.

More offensive power today which felt good, but you can't score 11 runs and lose a game. I'm trying to see a silver lining, but still very disappointing.

Dude, I respect your knowledge of our baseball program immensely, but "level of competition"? Liberty and Mercer? I understand that every team we play (especially those looking to make a statement) are going to give us their best game, but come on. #6 in the nation by 1 run on Fri, and losing like this on Sat!?!?!?!

[ThunderReb]

The Rebels will close out the 2009 Coca-Cola Classic against the host team, the University of South Alabama Jaguars. Here are some quick facts:

Conference: Sun Belt

Website: University of South Alabama Athletics

Current Record: 1-2 (0-0 A-Sun)

Current W/L Streak: L2

Current rank:
USA is not ranked nor did they receive votes in any polls.

Current Pseudo-RPI (Boyd's World): 2009 RPIs have not been released yet.

Team Stats: No status until after opening weekend

2008 Final Record: 32-25 (15-15 Sun Belt)

All-time Series Record: The Rebels hold a 17-13 advantage over the Jaguars. The Jaguars had a 12-6 advantage at one time; however the Rebels have won 11 of the past 12 meetings including all 7 meetings since 2004. USA is 9-6 against Ole Miss when playing at Stanky Field.

Projected Starter (2008 Stats):
LHP Lance Baxter - 6.42 ERA; 4-5; 9 Starts; 19 Appearances; 68.2 IP; 92 H; 61 R; 49 ER; 27 BB; 48K

Other notes:

First pitch is set for 2:30 pm Saturday; however it may be delayed due to Liberty and Mercer playing earlier.

USA lost to Liberty twice on Saturday. The Jaguars lost 5-2 in the early game. In the nightcap the Jags had a 3-2 lead on the Flames in the bottom of the 9th with 2 outs. But the Flames got the unimaginable. Flames 3B Tyler Bream doubled on an 0-2 pitch then scored on a single to force extra innings. In the 10th inning the Flames got three straight singles to score the winning run and down the Jags, 4-3. The Jaguars defeated Mercer 9-2 on Friday night.

The Jags return 5 starters; however they lost both middle infielders and two starting outfielders plus 9 pitchers.

The guy to watch will be David Doss. The Sr. catcher has rewritten the USA history books offensively and is ranked in the top 10 in several categories in All-time NCAA history.

While Matt Jackson is the pitching staff ace, Lance Baxter (who we will see) is tapped to be the Saturday pitcher in the rotation for the Jags.

Head Coach Steve Kittrell is in his 26 season as the skipper of the Jags and has an all-time record of 999-580-1. Yes, you read that correctly. He will be going for his 1,000th career win when he faces the Rebels on Sunday. He would be just the 50th NCAA head coach ever to achive 1,000 wins. Hopefully the Rebels can keep him at 999 for one more game.

Thanks for the info and great observations. I'm just a little worried. I didn't feel very confident in our #6 ranking due TO our pitching. I've never had much confidence in this staff. I was hoping Jake would get healthy and get back to form and be a mid-week starter and provide some weekend quality innings. But all in all I've been weary. My hopes were that the juco guys coming in were dominant-after last few games- guess not.
This team will need to find an identity...and quick.

[Redbluedude]

Is Bittle starting for us? He needs to, he's only pitched 1 inning this weekend. Let him start and go 4-5 innings, hopefully we'll get a nice lead and can go to the bullpen from there.

If he's a Closer this year and he's only pitched 1 or 2 innings on Friday and Saturday, he should be the starter on Sundays. Think anything like this may happen??? Seems like it would be a waste to not let him start on Sunday if he really hasn't pitched on Fri or Sat. He is our best pitcher on the staff.

[rebelliousb]

Is Bittle starting for us? He needs to, he's only pitched 1 inning this weekend. Let him start and go 4-5 innings, hopefully we'll get a nice lead and can go to the bullpen from there.

If he's a Closer this year and he's only pitched 1 or 2 innings on Friday and Saturday, he should be the starter on Sundays. Think anything like this may happen??? Seems like it would be a waste to not let him start on Sunday if he really hasn't pitched on Fri or Sat. He is our best pitcher on the staff.

He's closing and should have pitched the last 2 or 3 yesterday. Why save him to close Sunday and lose to Mercer?