Ole Miss baseball coach Mike Bianco admitted he was a bit lost for words when he met with reporters on Zoom following his team’s defeat to host Missouri on Friday night.
The Rebels hadn’t just lost to a fellow SEC bottom-dweller, they’d been run-ruled, 13-3 in seven innings, playing excruciating defense and allowing four home runs along the way.
“I don’t know really what to say,” Bianco said. “Embarrassing performance by us.
“As I told the guys, embarrassing and just not acceptable from any of us.”
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Mizzou (27-19, 7-16 SEC) scored the first eight runs of the night, and six of them came unearned thanks to two Ole Miss errors in the fourth inning. With one out, Tre Morris hit what could have been an inning-ending double-play ball to Rebels shortstop Jacob Gonzalez, whose glove flip to Peyton Chatagnier got away. Ole Miss (24-23, 5-18) didn’t record an out on the play when it probably should have gotten two.
Rebels pitcher JT Quinn then made a throwing error on the next batter’s bunt attempt, and the floodgates opened.
Bianco said he didn’t feel the errors resulted from mental lapses.
“I think in retrospect, (Gonzalez) should have just caught it and run across the base to take it himself,” Bianco said.
The Rebels recorded 11 hits against the Tigers, but couldn’t keep pace as Ole Miss’ pitching staff gave up homer after homer.
After blowing a seven-run lead in a loss in the series opener on Thursday, the Rebels have pitched 14 innings in this series so far and allowed nine home runs.
David Eckert covers Ole Miss for the Clarion Ledger. Email him at deckert@gannett.com or reach him on Twitter @davideckert98.
This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Mike Bianco calls Ole Miss baseball’s loss to Missouri ’embarrassing’