Mike Bianco Discusses Offensive Struggles, Grayson Saunier Following Loss to Vandy

Ole Miss has struggled in its first two games of conference play this baseball season.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The No. 3 and reigning-national-champion Ole Miss Rebels have been outscored 20-2 in their first two games of SEC play this season, including an 8-0 loss to the No. 6 Vanderbilt Commodores on Friday.

Following the loss, Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco was made available to the media where he discussed his offense's struggles on Friday night against a strong performance from Vanderbilt lefty Hunter Owen.

"Just another tough night for us," Bianco said. "Obviously disappointing, but you've got to tip your cap to Owen. It's been a while since I've watched us get dominated like that."

Bianco's team had a strong performance of its own from freshman Grayson Saunier before he ran into some trouble in the fifth inning. In that frame, Vanderbilt claimed a 4-0 lead, and it never looked back.

"If you want to try and find a silver lining, I thought that was Saunier's best outing of the year," Bianco said. "It's unfortunate that he started to run out of gas there in the fifth, but I thought he was really sharp."

Following Thursday night's season opener, Bianco was pleased with some of his team's at-bats despite only pushing across two runs in the 12-2 run-rule loss. On Friday, however, his feelings had changed.

"I feel totally different tonight," Bianco said. "I think as an offense as good as we've been, you don't think you should ever get dominated like that. I don't mean to take that away from Owen because I think he was that good tonight, but 23 in a row where you don't reach base, it's tough to imagine that anybody can do that to your offense.

"We have to be more competitive offensively. I think tonight, we got caught up in a guy who was pitching really well and, in the fifth, had a four or five-run lead and probably felt a little demoralized as well as he was pitching."

With the loss, Ole Miss has now dropped three straight games and falters in its first series of conference play. The Rebels' record now sits at 14-5 overall and 0-2 in the SEC, and they will look to salvage a game against the Commodores on Saturday in a 1 p.m. CT first pitch.

Saturday's game will be broadcast on SEC Network+.

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