Thanks to a series win over Georgia, the Ole Miss Rebels’ post-season chances still have a light pulse. The path is very, very narrow, and unlikely, but possible.
First, Ole Miss really needs 13 SEC wins.
At 5-16 with 9 conference games remaining, getting to 13 wins requires the Rebels to finish 8-1 over the next three weekends.
That’s difficult, but not impossible, considering the remaining three opponents each have sub .500 conference records.
If the Rebs finish with 12 or 13 wins in the conference, they will likely need to add at least a couple more wins at the SEC Tournament for insurance and then hope for some preferential treatment from the NCAA Selection Committee courtesy of their position as the defending national champions.
Just being real….this scenario is more than a little far-fetched, but at least it’s a reason for hope.
For now, the Rebs just need to focus on beating Mizzou next weekend. The Tigers have lost six straight SEC games. We need to make it nine.
Rebs beat Georgia, 8-7
The Rebels (23-21, 5-16 SEC) hit three home runs Sunday, and freshman Grayson Saunier — making his first weekend start since March 25 against Florida — went a career-long six innings, gave up just two hits, one earned run and struck out six batters without surrendering a walk.
The game winning run
Ole Miss won it on a TJ McCants single in the bottom of the 9th when the Georgia catcher took a huge hit from Judd Utermark and dropped the ball.
Maybe the Rebs got hot!
Peyton Chatagnier hit two home runs against Georgia on the weekend, and TJ McCants drove home the winning run on Sunday. The two have really struggled in SEC play, but they seemed to find something against the Bulldogs.
“The bottom (of the order), those guys really swung it well early in the season and haven’t swung it well in conference play,” head coach Mike Bianco said. “But Peyton with a big home run, home run earlier in the series as well, T.J. swinging it better — certainly the big hit — but he’s had some really good at-bats this weekend as well. And we’re going to need that. For you to be good offensively, you can’t just do it at the top. The bottom has got to throw some punches, too. And we were able to do that.”
