Ole Miss baseball embarrassed by Kentucky in sweep. Can the Rebels 'figure it out?'

OXFORD — Mike Bianco kept the thesis of his postgame message short after Ole Miss baseball was swept in embarrassing fashion by Kentucky at Swayze Field.

"We gotta figure it out," the Ole Miss coach said Sunday.

Clear and concise. But putting that idea into practice will require more than just checking a box.

The Rebels (18-11, 3-6 SEC) have to figure out how to pitch better.

They allowed 37 runs to the Wildcats (24-4, 8-1) in the three-game series, including 17- and 15-run outbursts in non-competitive losses on Saturday and Sunday.

The Rebels' weekend starters combined to complete just nine innings, and that includes a sparkling outing from Riley Maddox on Friday in a losing effort. Neither Liam Doyle nor Gunnar Dennis managed to escape the third in their starts. Walks doomed them. Ole Miss pitching issued 20 free passes in 25 innings of work. Ten of them scored.

"The games when we've had success, we've been able to attack the strike zone and get in good counts," Bianco said. "We didn't do that today or yesterday."

The Rebels have to figure out how to defend effectively.

They cleaned it up in a 15-1 loss Sunday, but poor infield defense marked the difference in a close 5-3 defeat Friday, and worsened the scoreline in a 17-9 thumping Saturday. Through 29 games, the Rebels have already made 34 errors. Their total through 54 games last season was 38.

Ole Miss committed three errors that translated into three unearned runs Friday. Saturday, they made six errors. The catcher position, where the Rebels are oscillating between a pair of young options in Campbell Smithwick and Eli Berch, has been particularly problematic. After Saturday's loss, Jackson Ross ‒ who made an error in the series opener ‒ said he thought the Rebels might be pressing defensively.

"We're a good defensive team," Ross said. "We've just had some bad miscues the last couple of days. I think the best thing to do is just flush it."

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The Rebels have to figure out how to respond.

In 2023, the worst season of Bianco's tenure, Ole Miss allowed one ugly series to become two. By the time the middle of April rolled around, the defending national champions were out of the postseason picture.

The Rebels have one win in their last two SEC series and have been outscored 72-28 by Tennessee and Kentucky. The snowball is still small enough to stop, but it has begun its descent down the hill.

"We talk about chemistry and leadership and all these different things ‒ this is when it tests you," Bianco said. "When you're awful and you play bad and you don't feel good, can you stick together and can you continue to fight?"

There is still plenty of runway in front of the Rebels to make this right, but it's real estate full of obstacles ‒ none more difficult than Ole Miss' next SEC opponent. After a midweek game against Memphis on Tuesday (6 p.m., ESPN+), the Rebels will travel to Arkansas to take on the top-ranked Razorbacks, who just swept LSU, the defending national champions.

"A lot of opportunity," Bianco said. "If you don't play better than that, it's not really gonna matter how many games you got left. But, if we can play like we have and like we're capable of playing, there's a lot of games left."

David Eckert covers Ole Miss for the Clarion Ledger. Email him at deckert@gannett.com or reach him on Twitter @davideckert98.

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This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Time for Ole Miss baseball to 'figure it out' after bad Kentucky series