Skip to main content
ole-miss logo

Hunter Elliott gets closer to ace form as No. 23 Ole Miss takes the series opener over No. 9 Vanderbilt

11by:Jake Thompson•about 16 hours•

JakeThompsonOn3

GpbJINcW4AESorr
Ole Miss third baseman Luke Hill. Mandatory credit: Ole Miss athletics

This weekend was yet another important one for No. 23 Ole Miss, welcoming No. 9 Vanderbilt to town for a critical Southeastern Conference weekend series.

Momentum from the extra-inning Governor’s Cup win seems to be still in the Rebels dugout after their 8-3 win over the Commodores to secure the series opener at Oxford-University Stadium on Friday.

Fridays are for the aces and while Hunter Elliott has not looked the part fully the last few weeks he did look closer to a return to form this week. Elliott went five innings, allowing a run off a pair of hits and five walks while striking out six Vanderbilt batters to pick up his sixth win in eight starts.

Five of those strikeouts occurred the Commodores had a runner in scoring position.

What worked the most for Elliott was his off-speed pitches but he has been working on honing in his fastball, which got into the lower 90s on Friday.

“Fastball was a little lively. I’ve been kind of working getting my shape back on the heater,” Elliott said. “Felt like I got a few good swings and misses with that. Then the off-speed just plays off that one when I set that as a tone. It was all working pretty good.”

Mason Morris worked 2.1 innings of relief, giving up a pair of runs off two hits and two walks. He also struck out five while throwing 42 pitches, making his availability for a second outing this weekend on Sunday more uncertain.

Closing things out Will McCausland pitched the final 1.2 innings of scoreless baseball and struck out a pair of batters.

After a sluggish week at the plate last week the bats have continued to stay hot for Ole Miss (30-12, 11-8 SEC). The Rebels used three home runs and 11 hits to help pull away from Vanderbilt (30-12, 11-8) with a four-run fifth inning and a three-run eighth inning.

The Commodores got back to within a couple runs after scoring two in the top of the eighth but then the Rebels responded. Judd Utermark’s two-run home run putting the exclamation point on things.

Hayden Federico once again hit a leadoff home run to start the bottom of the first inning and Luke Hill hit his eighth home run of the season with a solo shot that hit the middle section of the batter’s eye.

“Big innings kill a team. Especially kill a starting pitcher,” Mitchell Sanford said. “So, that was really big for us.

“We’ve struggled the last couple weeks in SEC play. To get a big win on Friday, which we’ve kind of struggled with that the last couple weeks. Big wins on Friday is good for the rest of the weekend and rest of SEC play.”

Ole Miss will go for the series win on Saturday with a first pitch set for 5 p.m. CT.

You may also like