Around the Diamond: Ole Miss’ Hunter Elliott looks to extend impressive start against Wright State

Ole Miss left-handed ace Hunter Elliott has dominated in his return to a pitching mound after a near-two-year injury absence. 

He’s picked up two wins in as many starts and has yet to allow a run to score. He’ll next open a three-game series against Wright State opposite Raider LHP Griffen Paige (0-1, 9.00 ERA) Friday at 4 p.m. CT.

“When you have a guy like him go down it’s really hard in our league to win games,” Ole Miss hitting coach Mike Clement told the Ole Miss Spirit this week. “Not to make excuses; we should have been better the last two years. There’s no question about that, and we certainly take responsibility for that. 

“But having that guy back … you don’t win the Arizona game because you can’t win a game 2-1 because you don’t have that dude on the mound like we did with Doug (Nikhazy) or going back to whoever through the years, (Ryan Rolison). Hunter’s that guy.”

Elliott tied his career-high in strikeouts (10) in a win last weekend over Eastern Kentucky. 

Elliott didn’t issue a walk and faced just one batter over the minimum over his 6.0 innings. He even picked off a pair of baserunners. Elliott struck out at least two batters in every inning but the forth. Nine of his 10 Ks were swinging.

“That’s such an important piece,” Clement said. “Here he is through two outings and not giving up any runs and barely giving up any hits. He’s punching people out and he’s walked three guys. 

“It’s a real piece. It’s a real horse you have to have on Fridays in the SEC to win a game 3-2 or 2-1 or 4-3. You have to have that.”

The rest of the weekend rotation remains unchanged for the third Ole Miss baseball weekend. 

RHP Riley Maddox (1-1, 6.48 ERA) goes Saturday for the Rebels opposite RHP Jarrett Heilman (0-1, 11.57 ERA). RHP Mason Nichols (1-0, 5.14 ERA) gets the ball in Game 3 against LHP Chet Lax (0-1, 9.00 ERA).

RELATED: Ole Miss stats through the first two weekends provide some good news and some bad news

HOW TO WATCH

Television/Online: SEC Network+
Play-by-Play: Jake Hromada 
Analyst: Keith Kessinger

HOW TO LISTEN

Radio: Ole Miss Radio Network
Play-by-Play: David Kellum (Friday, Sunday), Gary Darby (Saturday)
Analyst: Brad Henderson

SCOUTING WRIGHT STATE

Alex Sogard is in his seventh season as Wright State head coach. He’s compiled an 184-113 career record with the Raiders, including five consecutive Horizon League regular-season titles. They’ve appeared in an NCAA Regional in three of the past four postseasons. 

Wright State is 3-3 on the season and coming off a 11-10 midweek win over Miami of Ohio. Ole Miss is 7-4 all-time against Wright State. The teams last faced off in 2019. Ole Miss earned a 9-5 win.

AROUND THE DIAMOND

Ole Miss already has three ranked wins, the most in the opening month of the season since 2021. …The Rebels swept Eastern Kentucky last weekend, outscoring the Colonels 26-7. … The current team-wide ERA of 3.67 is the lowest through the first eight games of the season since 2022 (1.92). … Ole Miss is in a tie for 10th in the NCAA in home runs (15). The Rebels are 12th in home runs per game (1.88) and 21st in walks (57).

They’re also in a tie for 18th nationally in strikeouts (11.7) per nine innings. 

Louisville transfer Isaac Humphrey is tied for 17th in total walks (11) and walks per game (1.38). … Luke Hill is tied for 18th in runs scored (14). He’s 15th in runs scored per game (1.75) and leads the Rebels in slugging percentage, runs scored, hits, RBI, home runs and total bases. … Freshman Hayden Federico leads the team in batting average, on-base percentage and stolen bases. … Federico and Hill are the only Rebels to have three hits in a game this season. They’ve each done so twice.