What might can be expected for Hunter Elliott's return to the Ole Miss rotation?
This weekend marks the start of the second half of the Southeastern Conference and for Ole Miss the chance to once again salvage a season that got away from them. For the first time since opening day they might have Hunter Elliott back in the fold.
When Ole Miss (21-16, 3-12 SEC) hosts No. 1 LSU (29-7, 9-5) for the three-game series starting on Friday at 6:30 p.m. CT Elliott could be on the mound.
So far all of the boxes have been checked and the mile markers hit in a positive manner on Elliott’s road to recovery from his early UCL sprain. After making his start against Delaware on February 17 Elliott felt forearm tightness the following days. That resulted in Elliott shutting down for three weeks and then beginning a throwing program.
Elliott’s last bullpen session before Friday occurred on Tuesday back in Oxford while Ole Miss traveled up to Jonesboro and beat Arkansas State 6-3.
“I’ll find out (Wednesday) how that went and we’ll check how he’s feeling,” said Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco. “But, our hope is he’ll be available in some capacity (for LSU series).”
What Elliott’s capacity is and what it might look like is still unknown. Elliott has been in a starting role his entire career at Ole Miss and in his high school career at Tupelo High.
Keeping Elliott in a starter role would be ideal but a pitch count will be in play no matter when he enters a game. The plan is still something being mapped out.
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“I hate to keep you guys at arms length. I just don’t want to get ahead of myself,” Bianco said. “We’re going to make a decision tomorrow or certainly by Thursday about what we’re going to do. I don’t want to get ahead of myself and say something and I have to take it back.”
Ole Miss is close to getting its pitching staff as whole as possible in another week if everything goes according to plan.
Reliever Riley Maddox is trending towards returning to the bullpen next weekend against Georgia. Bianco did not offer up an update on Maddox’s final steps of recovery from his Tommy John surgery a year ago.
Getting Elliott and Maddox back is a positive step but for an Ole Miss team that is close to losing complete control of its season. After LSU the Rebels host Georgia then travel to Missouri the following two weekends.
The Bulldogs and the Tigers are also sitting at the bottom of the SEC standings and series wins, or sweeps, over them would go a long way in Ole Miss giving itself a chance to at least make it to Hoover for the SEC Tournament.
