Rebels fall in Game 3 of series

As The Ghost of Jay Cutler has already informed you, the Rebels took the series from Vanderbilt in Nashville.  The Rebels again put together a nice offensive performance, and they took the first game of Sunday’s double-header 6-1.  Philip Irwin battled hard as he pitched a complete game (7 innings) and only allowed a run.  However, game 2 was not as good for the Rebels.  Mike Bianco started the third game of the series against Vanderbilt off with a grave error:  letting Aaron Barrett pitch.  I’m not sure if Mike is watching the same guy pitch that I am, but he is starting a guy in the SEC rotation that has an 11.20 ERA. 

The issues of the second game:

First, our starting pitching was atrocious.  Secondly, I feel bad for Scott Bittle.  He came in to record the final out of the 5^th inning, and he accomplished that.  He did not allow a hit in 2.1 innings, but he gets the loss due to an unearned run.  That drops him to 1-2 on the season, and it isn’t looking like he will have the same impressive stats as last year.  We still have 9 weeks to go, but I am worried that he isn’t the same shut-down pitcher from last year. 

We scored 6 runs, and that is satisfactory, especially against Vandy pitching.  We have to find a way to string it all together. 

All in all, we cannot be disappointed with the Rebels showing in Nashville this weekend.  I am very impressed with started the season 2-1. 

The Rebels return to action on Tuesday in Jonesboro against Arkansas State.  Wednesday, the Jort Nation comes to Oxford when the Memphis Tigers make the drive from the Bluff City.   

This just in....

The new weekend rotation for the Rebel Baseball team will be:

Drew Pomeranz on Friday
Philip Irwin on Saturday
Aaron Barrett on Sunday


The Rebels will take on the Governors of Austin Peay at 6:30 on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Vermont Game 1 Recap

I'll go ahead and apologize in advance for yet another TOTGA post.  So, Aaron Barrett is not that good.  It started out poorly for AB and he never could his act together as the Catamounts touched him for four runs on seven hits in only three innnings.  He can't expect to be successful when he can only throw fastballs over the plate.  He either needs to fix his offspeed problem, but a better solution is Bianco removing  him as the Friday starter.  

-Vermont or not, the bullpen did a great job the rest of the game.  They held the Catamounts scoreless and only allowed four or five more hits.  Speaking of the bullpen...Rory Mckean has to change his warm up song.  

-I'm officially on the Bittle for Friday bandwagon.  Previously, I was in favor of keeping him in the pen but we desperately need another weekend starter.  Pomeranz and Irwin look to be fine as the other two, but AB and Corrigan are not ready yet.  Bittle must have some more damage to his arm than originally thought, or Bianco is just being very stubborn.  

-Kevin Mort is good?  If he can get some momentum from his performance last night we may need to scrap that tag.  Not only did he have a great night at the plate, but he looked really good at short.  I also thought Zach Miller had a good game at third.

-Jordan Henry got it done at the plate tonight.  His average rose from .211 to around .280 after his game last night.  While the average may not be like in past years, he is still getting on base and making things happen.

-Ole Miss closed the game with 17 unanswered runs.

-Vermont's defense is pathetic.  I couldn't tell if I was watching Oxford Middle or collegiate baseball at times.  They had four errors when I stopped paying attention to the scoreboard.   The squeeze bunt attempt was comical as well. 

-I couldn't figure out their strategy of playing with their outfielders so shallow.  The Rebels had a couple of doubles that should have been outs, but because of the Catamounts defensive alignments some of our bench players slugging percentage rose a few points.  They may have been trying to keep that runner from second from scoring on a single, but when you are down twelve runs you should probably worry about preventing another extra base hit.

RSC Quiz

What's more atrocious than Aaron Barrett's curve ball, Vermont's defense and the idea of Sean Stuyverson returning to man third base?  

The answer is in the comment section.  Let us know if you got it right.