How the Ole Miss baseball rotation showed its promise in Rebels' sweep of Morehead State

OXFORD ― Grayson Saunier needed to learn a counterintuitive lesson to unlock the plentiful talent stored inside the Ole Miss baseball pitcher's right arm.

In an era of baseball that emphasizes the swing-and-miss more than any other, contact could be his friend.

"It's just trusting my stuff and going right at guys," Saunier said Sunday. "And not being afraid to let them hit it."

In the past two weeks, Saunier has stacked the best two starts of his young collegiate career. The sophomore pitched five scoreless innings against Iowa on March 10, then followed with five more scoreless frames Sunday against Morehead State (7-8) to help the Rebels (12-5) secure a 6-5 win and a series sweep. Ole Miss won 10-3 on Friday and handed the Eagles a 13-1 defeat in a seven-inning game on Saturday.

Saunier's first two starts of the season looked like a continuation of his 2023 freshman campaign, which was derailed by walks. He issued five free passes in his first 7.2 innings of work this season but has walked only three batters in 10 innings since. Sunday, coach Mike Bianco said Saunier didn't benefit from his usual brand of electric stuff. But he found a way anyway, throwing 46 of his 66 pitches on the afternoon for strikes.

"He showed maturity today," Bianco said. "I thought he just made pitches and at times made it look pretty easy. And it's not easy out there."

If Saunier's two-game spurt is, in fact, indicative of what's to come, it matches the expectations the Rebels had for him when they threw him into the rotation as a freshman at the beginning of last season. It also answers one of the key offseason questions facing Ole Miss, with SEC play set to start March 15.

The previous week as a whole has painted a picture of the Ole Miss pitching staff that is far from the worst-case scenario some formulated when the Rebels didn't make a marquee transfer portal addition and lost projected weekend starter Xavier Rivas for the season before he even threw a pitch.

Riley Maddox struck out six in five innings of two-run ball in a midweek game against Memphis. Gunnar Dennis whiffed five on Friday against Morehead State, giving up one earned run in five innings.

And perhaps the most significant development came from Liam Doyle on Saturday. In his first start for Ole Miss, the Coastal Carolina transfer lefthander struck out eight of the 14 batters he faced.

"Just tremendous," Bianco said. "What we hoped for. Just a big-time fastball. It plays even harder than the radar gun. He's throwing the ball low-90s, maybe some mid-90s, but it's got so much ride to it."

MEMPHIS: Ole Miss baseball beats Memphis behind strong pitching performance, three home runs

When combined with a bullpen that has generally been effective ‒ despite a Sunday wobble ‒ can the Ole Miss staff give a strong lineup the platform it needs to win games in college baseball's toughest conference?

The SEC will be a different test than the one the Rebels have faced from a relatively tame nonconference slate to this point. Iowa is the only team Ole Miss has played so far that partook in a regional last season.

"They're coming," Bianco said. "We've talked so much about the bullpen, but the (starters) this weekend all did really well and got to the fifth. And that's what you want, especially if you have the bullpen like we do."

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

Get the latest news and insight on SEC football by subscribing to the SEC Unfiltered newsletter, delivered straight to your inbox

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Rotation impresses as Ole Miss baseball sweeps Morehead State