One Win Away

Today was an amazing day for baseball. It was mostly cloudless, and boy the sun was scorching hot. I sat as far down the 3rd base line as you can, and it turned out to be a great view for Matt Smith's dramatic, game-winning homer in the bottom of the 12th. Me and everyone else in the stadium were frustrated all day by the Virginia lefty, because he couldn't throw the ball over the plate, yet we couldn't get any hits or funs off of him. Many innings and 4 hours later, the Rebels are once again one win away from reaching Omaha's Rosenblatt Stadium. It's been a long, tough year following this balanced team of baseball Rebs, and now it all falls on the shoulders of the superb sophomore Drew Pomeranz. I don't expect him to go very deep into the game since he hasn't had a lot of rest lately, but he might surprise me, especially since Jake Morgan pitched 3 scoreless innings with a broken nose today. It's time to head to the ballpark tomorrow morning and cheer the Rebs on to Omaha!

A New Superman in Town

The Oxford Regional concluded tonight with an amazing 4-1 win for the Rebels over the Hilltoppers of Western Kentucky.  Sophomore Drew Pomeranz pitched on 2 days rest and threw a complete game, 2 hit performance with a school-record tying 16 strikeouts!  He might be very, VERY tired tonight, but he single-handedly led the Rebels to a likely Super Regional this weekend.  I really hope that he can go this Friday, but I'll be ok if he never pitches again, because tonight's performance was one for the ages after last night's historic loss.  This weekend saw so many swings in emotion and mood that I don't know if Rebel fans can handle any more excitement, but I sure know that I'll be at the Supers next weekend cheering on Pomeranz and Ole Miss Rebels!  Hotty Toddy!

Sad Day

Well, congratulations are in order for the baseball team as they were oficially crowned SEC regular-season champs before the Tournament game against Georgia yesterday. Sadly, there will be no SEC Tournament championship as the Rebs were beat by a grand slam 6-3 yesterday and a 12-2 whooping by Florida earlier this morning. The Rebel pitching looked atrocious in 2 games, with Jake Morgan even surrendering 2 runs today. Let's all hope they can get their act together before regional play begins, but maybe playing at home will help their abilities. Good news-we only used a few pitchers in Hoover, so our arms should be rested for regionals. Good news-Scott Bittle is day-to-day. There is a possibility that he could wake up one morning and be feeling good enough to pitch, but until then he has been ordered to rest. In tennis news, the Rebs fell to UCLA 4-3 in the team touney, and the only player left in the singles tourney is Devin Britton, the outstanding freshman. We all wish him the best of luck in his efforts to claim an individual title this year. I was looking forward to listening to some more Rebel baseball on my trip to Louisiana this weekend, but I guess I'll have to get over that idea! Hotty Toddy and let's hope for a better weekend a week from now!

A Night for Firsts

The Rebels pulled off the victory tonight, coming from behind to win big versus the Razorbacks. After several frustrating innings, the Rebs capitalized on an error to score 6 runs in the 7th inning. Bad news-State blew a 4 run lead in the top of the 9th. Good news-State won the game in the bottome of the 9th. I think it's the first time I've ever cheered for the Bulldogs. In fact, I'm going to cheer for them again tomorrow, because if they beat LSU and Ole Miss beats Arkansas, then the Rebels win the SEC title! (Just don't get used to me cheering for State). With the win, the 2009 Ole Miss team has 19 SEC victories on the year, a new school record, which is amazing considering the great teams of the last decade and those in former years of Ole Miss glory. So, all you Rebel fans get ready tomorrow and cheer those Rebels on as they go for the sweep. Hotty Toddy!

Sloppy Seconds

The baseball Rebels were able to get it done tonight, but not without some help from the Arkansas defense. In the first three innings, Arkansas committed 4 errors, which allowed Ole Miss to score 7 runs (2 earned). This game appeared to be a breeze for the Rebels, but Ole Miss struggled to get the clutch hit over the last 6 frames as Arkansas came back and made the game close at the end 7-5. They were about 10 feet from tying the game on a long foul ball with a runner on in the 9th, but Jake the Snake Morgan finished it up to seal the 18th SEC win for the Rebels. Good news-Alabama lost to Auburn. Bad news-LSU beat MSU on a wild pitch. So the Rebs now stand 1 game out of first place and they are .5 games ahead of Bama. Ole Miss needs one more win and one more Bama loss in order to secure that 3 seed I so desperately want for the SEC Tournament. As much as I hate to do this, I'm going to root for the Bulldogs to take the back 2 from LSU so the Rebs can have a chance at the title, but I realize that's very optimistic thinking. Also, when I last checked the score, Ole Miss was leading Texas A&M 3 games to 1 in the tennis Sweet 16, so hopefully they'll pull that off and advance. Let's finish strong and have a good outing from Buck tomorrow. Hotty Toddy and Go Rebs!

Thin Ice

Well, the Rebels really hurt themselves this past weekend by dropping 2 of 3 to Bulldogs, who are the drainplug in the pool of mediocrity this year in the SEC. Ole Miss came in with a top ERA and fielding percentage, while MSU was at the bottom in both categories, but State found a way to get it done, and all that really matters is the score at the end of the day. Now it's going to be really difficult for the Rebels to win the West and overall SEC titles. I'm hoping for the 3 seed in the SEC Tournament, because then we would stay away from the 1 seed (probably LSU) until the finals. The bad news-Scott Bittle isn't going to Arkansas. I really hope he can get better before Regional play begins. In other news, the men's tennis team competes in the Sweet 16 tomorrow, so good luck to them. I still can't believe Oxford wasn't a regional host this year. Check out redcuprebellion.com if you want to find contact information for the people who messed that up. Good luck to the Rebs this weekend. Hotty Toddy.