Southern Miss ends historic season on a bittersweet note after Ole Miss shutout

Ole Miss punched its first ticket to the College World Series since 2014 with a 5-0 shutout of Southern Miss at Pete Taylor Park on Sunday.

The Rebels continued where they left off from a 10-0 win Saturday with solid pitching and hot bats, becoming just the third team in history to hold an opponent scoreless through a Super Regional [LSU in 2002, Charleston in 2014].

The milestone marks the end of a historic season for Southern Miss and the next chapter for an Ole Miss program that has pushed to Omaha after falling short in multiple seasons during head coach Mike Bianco’s 22-year tenure.

“It’s never been about me. I’ve been here a long time, and we’ve had a lot of success, and we haven’t gotten to Omaha as much as we’d want and not as much as the fans would want,” Bianco said. “But we’ve won a lot of baseball games, had a lot of great kids in the other dugout, and that’s tough. I’m just excited for this group.”

Both teams were scoreless through four, but Ole Miss broke through in the fifth inning as Jacob Gonzalez hit an RBI single. The Rebels added another run on a passed ball and finished with another RBI single from Kevin Graham.

Senior centerfielder Justin Bench added to the tally with an RBI single in the sixth. Bench led the Rebels’ charge on offense with three hits, an RBI and a run after going 0-4 at bat in game one.

Southern Miss saw its best opportunity in the eighth inning with the bases loaded but never materialized any runs in the series.

TJ McCants added an insurance run in the eighth inning with a solo home run to make the final score 5-0.

An Early Pitcher’s Duel

The game turned into an early pitcher’s duel as Southern Miss’ Tanner Hall and Ole Miss left-hander Hunter Elliott retired 13 consecutive batters from the second through the fourth inning.

Hall found a rhythm in the second inning as he struck out three straight batters to leave two Rebels stranded and Elliot responded by striking the side in order.

The Rebels drove up Hall’s pitch count when they were able to first capitalize against him with four hits and three runs in the fifth inning.

Southern Miss pulled him in the sixth inning, ending his day for a final line of eight hits and three runs allowed with six strikeouts on 89 pitches.

Career-Day for the Freshman

While starting pitching was a question mark for Ole Miss for most of the season, it ended up being the Rebels’ strength in its Super Regional victory.

After a shutout performance from Dylan DeLucia, the All-American freshman Elliot led his team to its first appearance in Omaha in nearly a decade.

Elliot proved ready for the challenge, though, pitching for a career-high of ten strikeouts and limiting the Golden Eagles to just three hits during his time on the mound- two of which were in the eighth inning.

Josh Mallitz relieved Elliot in the eighth, ending the longest outing of his career. Southern Miss Head Coach Scott Berry praised the freshman’s performance in a high-stakes game.

“He hadn’t even broken out a razor yet,” Berry said. “A true freshman — he’s just way ahead of his time. He had a mound presence of a senior, he was in control, and I was really impressed.”

End of a historic season for Southern Miss

While Southern Miss hoped for a much different outcome than the events that transpired this weekend, the 2021-2022 season was a historic milestone for the Golden Eagles.

Southern Miss earned its longest-winning streak in program history and the regular-season title as Conference USA Champions.

The program hosted a regional for just the third time and, with its backs against the walls, pulled off three straight victories to earn the rights to host a Super Regional for the first time.

Perhaps the most stinging loss of the end of the season is the closing of six-year veteran Gabe Montenegro’s career at Southern Miss.

The senior from Guatemala was a fan favorite and held many Southern Miss records, including most games played, singles and at-bats. He ranks second for most hits and third for most runs in program history. He fittingly earned a hit in his last at-bat.

“I have tremendous respect for him and how he came out to work every day when he came to our program and how he represented it,” Berry said. “Not many programs have the Guatemalan national flag flying in the outfield.”

As for Ole Miss, they head to Omaha for the sixth time in program history after a turnaround from a 7-14 midseason Southeastern Conference record.