FAYETTEVILLE — Ole Miss head baseball coach Mike Bianco and and his players had one sentiment after being drubbed 11-2 by Arkansas in the first game of the Super Regionals Saturday in Fayetteville.
Time to flush that game and win Sunday at 2 p.m. to force a third game Monday or the season is over and the Razorbacks (45-17) will be making a second straight trip to the College World Series.
“I think they get it,” Bianco said. “I think they realize that it comes down to controlling what you can control. I know it sounds so mundane and coach speak, but it’s the truth. Tomorrow it is about winning the first pitch, winning the first out and moving on.
“…We’ve been in some of these situations before, either losing the first game or being in the losers bracket at the SEC Tournament. This team has felt that a little bit and been able to play well, but it is different playing at this place against this team. They are real good.”
Ole Miss shortstop Grae Kessinger, drafted 68th by the Houston Astros in this week’s Major League Draft, homered off Isaiah Campbell in the first inning to give his team the lead, but it was all Arkansas after that.
Campell (12-1) was drafted by Seattle Mariners with the 76th pick.
“This one’s over,” Kessinger said. “Got to come out tomorrow and just play one pitch at a time. You can’t control what happened. You can’t control what’s going to happen tomorrow in the fifth inning. All you can do is control your approach to the game and just take it from there. And just be ready to go and stay having confidence in each other and we’ll be all right in the end.”
Ole Miss (40-26), which beat home standing Arkansas two of three at Baum Walker Stadium earlier this year and is now 3-3 against the Razorbacks this season, fell to Campell’s 8 1/3 inning performance on the mound.
In his swan song at Baum, Campbell (12-1) got a standing ovation from the crowd a pitch and an out after giving up Thomas Dillard’s home run leading off the ninth.
Campbell gave up five hits, fanned seven and walked one on Saturday while the Razorbacks had 11 hits on the day, including three hits from Trevor Ezell and two each by Casey Martin, Matt Goodheart and Dominic Fletcher.
The top four spots in the Arkansas order were 9-of-18 during the contest while Jack Kenley’s three-run homer in the first inning put the home team up 4-1.
“Just a tremendous game by them,” Bianco said. “Campbell was terrific today. Offensively they were terrific. One of the things we talked about with our media and talked about with our team when you get to this point everybody is really good and it comes down to playing well. And boy did they play well today.
“Unfortunately we were the opposite. We just didn’t have an answer on the mound. Offensively, Campbell was just too much for us We couldn’t get any swings off, couldn’t get to his fastball today and he really just ran through us for eight innings. So really that was the ballgame.”
Rebels starter Will Ethridge (7-7) was gone by the fourth inning after giving up six hits and eight runs.
“They just swung it well,” Ethridge said. “They hit each pitch that I had very well. I wasn’t able to locate my pitches very well. Just not my day today and they took advantage of it.”
Ole Miss will go with freshman Doug Nikhazy (8-3, 2.98) on Sunday. He has allowed just seven hits and one run combined in two straight eight-inning winning efforts.
“We need a great effort,” Bianco said. “We need somebody to give us some length, put some zeros up. That didn’t happen today against a really good offense. One of the things being able to compete here is you’ve got to be able to put zeroes up on the board and we weren’t able to do that.
“Hopefully we will be able to get off to a good start and live in some better counts, make a few better pitches and put some zeros up.”
Kessinger, the grandson of former Cubs, Cardinals and White Sox player Don Kessinger, believes his team has the ability to win two games.
“I think this team plays well with their backs against the wall,” Kessinger said. “You look at the SEC Tournament and what we did the last time we were here. This team just steps up to the challenge. We pick each other up and like I keep saying go just one pitch at a time. You don’t worry about the end result and just control what you can control and we do a really good job of that.
Bianco was not really into his team’s success earlier at Baum Walker Stadium playing a factor in Sunday’s game and a possible Monday finale.
“I think they get it,” Bianco said. “I think we are making a little bit more out of that than needs to be. I mean they get it. Everybody gets it. You’ve still got to win the baseball games.”
He doesn’t feel the need to tell his team the season is over with a loss.
“No, I think they’ll be able to do that,” Bianco said. “Again, I think they get it. This stings a little bit right now, but they all sting. This is not how you draw it up. You wanted to win game one and game two and move on, but in the end they played really well and beat us up.
“The score, maybe as lopsided as it was, its just a win. You have got to be able to flush that like Grae said and move on to the next day. We have got to figure it out on the mound. We have got to figure out how to get some outs.”
One highlight of the day for Ole Miss was center fielder Ryan Olenek taking away a home run from Ezell in the seventh with a leaping catch.
“He is 6-5 with a pretty good vertical and he is a super athlete,” Bianco said. “It was 400-plus feet away and it probably looks even better on TV. Just a tremendous, tremendous play from a really good athlete.”
Bianco was also pleased with the effort of catcher Cooper Johnson.
“I am just proud of him,” Bianco said. “Our beat writers that see us play, you just can’t say enough about Cooper Johnson. Much is said about the arm and throwing people out, but just the way he receives and the way he blocks the ball. In a game like this, you are right, with some of those young guys on the mound, sticking his body in front of the ball and wearing a lot of pitches.
“That is one of the things, take it from an old catcher. Everybody talks about the squatting, it’s not squatting. It’s those balls that hit you in the forearm and the throat and everywhere else that nobody really sees. That’s what makes it so hard and to do it down 10 in 90-degree heat, he is sensational back there.”