OIe Miss’ bullpen has been taxed heavily at times this season as its starting pitching has been struggled to consistently go deep into games. But the pen was rested and fully in tact on Sunday, and lifted the Rebels to a 2-1 win over UAB to cap a three-game sweep.
Parker Caracci recored his second save of the season as Mike Bianco tasked him with acquiring the last five outs. Caracci’s was aided by a strange play shortly after entering the game in the eighth. He inherited a runner on first base, who quickly moved to third after swiping second base and advancing 90 feet closer on an errant throw by Cooper Johnson. Caracci walked Carter Pharis to put the go-ahead run aboard and men at the corners with one out. He then struck out Zack Davis on an elevated 2-2 fastball for the second out. But it was the last pitch Caracci would require in the inning after Davis was called for batter’s interference for walking in front of Johnson as he tried to throw out Pharis gunning for second base.
“If you watched the replay, he had no opportunity to throw the ball to second base,” Bianco said. “That is what I asked (home plate umpire Codey Davis) is what they can do about it and if it was reviewable. It is clearly interference. He had no opportunity to throw the ball to second base.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQB-Oa99dXE
Johnson never intended to throw the ball to second base. With two outs, Ole Miss was conceding the bag to Pharis as no one covered second base. All Johnson was
attempting to do was fake a throw to see if the runner on third would bite and lean toward home plate. He didn’t initially get the call until Mike Bianco came out and lobbied for a review.
“It was a fake,” second baseman Anthony Servideo said. “I honestly didn’t think much of it. I just saw Cooper pump fake and the kid kept walking in front of him.”
It proved to be the most crucial sequence of the game after Caracci stranded a one-out single in the ninth to seal the win. Caracci’s velocity topped out at 95 in what was a fastball-heavy appearance. He’s been searching a bit for the command of his breaking ball through a couple of shaky outings, but a lively fastball was enough to lock down the Blazers.
“Velocity was up a little bit today,” Caracci said. “I am glad I got to get back out there and feel like myself again. I got my confidence back.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKw6_BjscmE
UAB’s Tanner Rusk threw five scoreless innings, scattering four hits and bottling up the Ole Miss offense. UAB took a 1-0 lead on a solo home run from Colton Shultz off of Gunnar Hoglund in the fourth inning. Hoglund was on the receiving end of a relatively quick hook from Mike Bianco, who called for Austin Miller three batters after the home run. Hoglund gave up two singles sandwiched in between a lineout. He made it 3.1 innings, and gave up the lone run on four hits with a strikeout and no walks.
“Today, I just didn’t think his command was there,” Bianco said. “He was up in the zone. On a normal day, we probably would’ve let him go another inning or two. But with so many guys rested that haven’t thrown yet, we weren’t going to wait around.”
Miller provided 2.1 innings hitless relief. Connor Green got the Rebels out of a bases loaded jam in the sixth extinguishing a fire sparked by Miller hitting two batters and walking one. Green induced a weak ground ball to third to keep the Blazers off the board.
The Rebels tied the game in the bottom half of the inning when Thomas Dillard crushed a first-pitch fastball over the center field wall off Rusk’s successor, Graham Ashcraft.
Ole Miss broke the tie in the seventh on a Tyler Keenan two-out base hit that UAB right fielder Nathan Ames bobbled, allowing Servideo to score from first base.
“I was going to first to third no matter what when I saw the second baseman miss it,” Servideo said. “I got to third and Coach Clement just kept waving me.”
Ole Miss is now 12-3 on the season and heads to No. 8 Louisville for a two-game midweek series before opening SEC play next weekend at home against Alabama.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWUKQnrDgo4
NOTES:
— Houston Roth threw a bullpen with no issues on Saturday. Roth is still battling the lingering effects of spraining his AC joint in his non-throwing shoulder a couple of days before opening day. Bianco said it is possible Roth pitches at Louisville.
— Bianco does not know his midweek starting pitching plan yet. This will be the Rebels’ second consecutive five-game week.
Photo credit: Joshua McCoy — Ole Miss Athletics
