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No Walks, No Runs, No Problem: Elliott dominates in Ole Miss’ shutout of EKU

Ben Garrettby:Ben Garrett•about 19 hours•

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Ole Miss LHP Hunter Elliott (Photo credit: Ole Miss Baseball/X)

Ole Miss ace pitcher Hunter Elliott is still on a pitch count as he makes his return from a two-year injury absence. 

The Rebels obviously want to be as cautious as possible with the left-hander, who, in the summer of 2022, helped lead Ole Miss to its first-ever national title. He was capped at 75 pitches in the season-opening win over Arizona. He hovered around that mark Friday against Eastern Kentucky.

However, Elliott showed in his second start — an 8-0 Rebel blanking of EKU — he’s about ready to take the training wheels off. 

Elliott pitched his longest outing since Oklahoma in the College World Series and picked up his second win. Elliott went 6.0 innings and allowed no runs on three hits with a career-high-tying 10 strikeouts. He didn’t issue a single walk. 

“He was terrific,” Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco said. “And Mason (Morris) behind him. On a day like this you know runs are going to be at a premium; just cold and wind’s blowing in. Tough day offensively. 

“He was terrific. Only faced one guy over the minimum, picked a couple guys off. Just really good, and we played really good defense as well.”

The Rebels (4-1) scored seven of their runs in the fifth inning or later. 

Sophomore catcher Campbell Smithwick provided a 3-0 cushion in the bottom of the fifth with a two-out, up-the-middle single to plate Isaac Humphrey and Luke Hill. It was his first hit of the season. 

Smithwick singled in another in the Ole Miss half of the eighth. He also walked. Smithwick last season hit .266 with a healthy .816 OPS. He started 24 of the 30 games in which he appeared. He had a homer and 12 RBI.

“Just tried to work a count,” Smithwick said. “Walked my first plate appearance. I was just trying to see some pitches and work a count. Hadn’t been feeling great, so just doing anything I can to get on base. That’s the goal, to not get out. Finally I got a pitch over the middle, saw it well, put my best swing on it and it got through.”

Third baseman Luke Hill stayed hot with two hits in four at-bats.

Hill, a one-time transfer from Arizona State, knocked in two and scored twice. Hill hit .429 through the first four games of the year with two home runs, a triple and six RBI.

Ole Miss first baseball Will Furniss had a much-needed multi-hit game, including his first home run of the year, an opposite-field shot just beyond the left-field fence at 350 feet.

Game two of the three-game weekend series is Saturday at 1:30 p.m. CT on SEC Network+. Ole Miss will send veteran right-hander Riley Maddox (0-1, 16.20 ERA) to the bump to oppose Eastern Kentucky LHP Bradley Gagen (0-0, 0.00 ERA).

“We got some baserunners, especially via the walk and a couple errors by them,” Bianco said. He’s in his 25th season as Ole Miss head coach. “Big hit by Campbell. I thought a really big hit by Luke Hill early. Luke gets us the one, Campbell’s hit get us to three, and then you could see once we got to the bullpen started to coax some walks and steal some bases and were able to open it up a little bit.”

Ole Miss had nine walks as a team and four stolen bases — two apiece from Hill and Humphrey. Morris replaced Elliott in the seventh and worked a three-inning save. He gave up no runs and just one hit and struck out three.

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