Mississippi
Kevin Graham, Reece Ewing prove how one player can make all the difference for college baseball teams
How a lot distinction can one participant make in a baseball lineup?
Loads. Simply check out two Mississippi groups.
Ole Miss has received seven straight sport and 4 straight towards nationally ranked groups (on the street). Throughout that streak, senior left fielder Kevin Graham is hitting .572 with 4 dwelling runs, seven runs scored and 10 runs batted in.
Graham, who absolutely possesses one of many sweetest swings in all of school baseball, was on the bench with a damaged wrist from March 6 till April 8. Throughout his absence, the Rebels received 9 video games and misplaced eight. Earlier than and after his harm, the Rebels are 22-11. (They have been 10-1 and ranked No. 2 within the nation when Graham bought damage.)
This isn’t to say that Graham is solely liable for the Rebels’ spectacular seven-game win streak. However it’s to say that his presence because the clean-up hitter makes the Ole Miss batting order a lot extra imposing. Consequently, Tim Elko, the 3-hole hitter, sees much better pitches. The opposition has to assume twice, possibly thrice, about pitching round Elko when Graham is within the on deck circle. Graham makes the whole lineup look totally different.
“There’s little question our lineup is quite a bit more durable to navigate with Kevin Graham proper in the midst of it,” Ole Miss coach Mike Bianco mentioned Sunday night time. “The man can simply hit. He had that very same swing when he dedicated to us within the ninth grade. The man couldn’t swing a bat for 4 and a half weeks and take a look at what he’s doing now.”
It additionally helps that Ole Miss has settled on a pitching rotation that has been a lot improved not too long ago.
Southern Miss had received 14 straight video games and was ranked No. 5 within the land when the Golden Eagles misplaced their left fielder and 3-hole hitter Reece Ewing. The Eagles have been 32-8 general, 16-2 in Convention USA when Ewing suffered a damaged bone in his hand towards Rice.
Ewing missed the subsequent 9 video games, and Southern Miss was 4-5 in these video games. He returned on Friday night time towards UTSA and the Eagles received the weekend collection with Ewing taking part in a key position. Once more, Ewing wasn’t solely liable for the essential collection victory that offers the Eagles a three-game Convention USA lead with simply three video games to play. However his presence was completely essential.
Ewing batted 13 instances towards UTSA. He reached base eight of these with six walks, a double and a house run.
Throughout his absence, the Eagles batters left runner after runner on base, typically chasing pitches far out of the strike zone. Upon his return, he confirmed the endurance that had been sadly missing from his teammates, which wasn’t misplaced on Southern Miss coach Scott Berry.
“One thing you study Reece Ewing is that he doesn’t swing at pitches out of the zone,” Berry mentioned. “The man hasn’t seen the sector in I don’t know the way lengthy, however he doesn’t get himself out.”
In Saturday and Sunday victories, it was as if the opposite Southern Miss batters took a cue from Ewing, waited for one thing within the zone to swing, after which made the pitcher pay. They hit six dwelling runs on Sunday.
Right here’s the take care of each the Rebels’ Graham and the Eagles’ Ewing. They weren’t capable of take batting apply throughout all these video games they missed. This wasn’t just like the Main Leagues. They didn’t get rehab assignments earlier than they returned to the lineup. In Ewing’s case, he had a solid eliminated on Thursday and was again within the lineup on Friday.
Graham’s current tear couldn’t have come at a extra opportune time for Ole Miss, which has soared to a No. 38 RPI after being down within the 60s. The Rebels have performed their method again in to the NCAA Event image and may rise even greater with Texas A&M (33-16, 17-10 and No. 20 RPI) coming to Oxford for a three-game weekend collection.
With three common season video games to play, nationally ranked Southern Miss remains to be very a lot in play to host an NCAA Regional. The Eagles have to win the CUSA common season title — which they’ll do with one victory at Center Tennessee subsequent weekend — after which play effectively once they host the Convention USA Event.
Don’t know the way a lot NCAA choice committee takes into consideration what occurred when key gamers have been lacking from the lineup. However clearly, Graham at Ole Miss and Ewing at Southern Miss make their groups a lot larger threats to make a deep postseason run.
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