BASEBALL: What do you do with Scott Bittle?

What a season Scott Bittle is putting together, a year after he couldn’t seem to close a conference game.

Lots of factors went into Bittle’s problems his first season in the program, some of them his own, some of them a lack of execution from teammates, but his turnaround has been nothing short of remarkable.

He leads the SEC in strikeouts with 92 to 89 for Tennessee’s Bryan Morgado. Here’s the kicker: Bittle has thrown just 50 2-3 innings to Morgado’s 68 2-3.

I’ve heard a lot of folks ready to throw Cody Satterwhite, the No. 3 starter, under the bus. Certainly, the expectation level was different this season for Satterwhite, a preseason All-American. The bottom line is he’s given Ole Miss a chance to compete most games. Prior to the Sunday game at Georgia when he gave up six runs — four earned — on seven hits, Satterwhite had not allowed more than four runs in five straight SEC starts.

That’s giving your team a chance to compete. Now, only giving your team a chance to compete is what you ask of a freshman. For a junior and a player of Satterwhite’s experience, more is expected. Sometimes you need to put the team on your back and carry it a while, as he did at Alabama in a 2-1 Ole Miss win.

While the Georgia game may be his low point, I’m not ready to lay all the Game 3 problems at Satterwhite’s feet. Score some runs fellas.

Sometimes, however, you make a change, because you’re hoping for a spark.

Scott Bittle is the team’s best pitcher right now, and you want your best players on the field as much as possible. Certainly, you’d like the opportunity to use him more than once on the weekend. In the last three weekends the Rebels are 3-0 in the games in which Bittle has pitched and 0-6 in the games he has not.

He’s given up just nine earned runs, 20 walks, three extra-base hits, and opponents are batting just .114 against him.

With the coming of Jake Morgan, perhaps Bittle could be used less in long relief stints. Use him to pitch the ninth in Games 1 and 2 if the opportunity presents itself, because every win is critical.

But if it could be managed to have Bittle available for five or six innings on Sunday, it could be the spark needed for a team that has won only three conference series and none in the second half of the season.

– PA

FOOTBALL: Release on Hall, Green-Ellis

Here’s the university news release on the free agent signings of Bruce Hall (Buffalo) and BenJarvus Green-Ellis (New England)

– PA

OXFORD, Miss. – A pair of former Ole Miss running backs have signed NFL free-agent contracts, as BenJarvus Green-Ellis has inked with the New England Patriots and Bruce Hall with the Buffalo Bills.

The Rebel tandem along with Brandon Jenkins, who signed with the Carolina Panthers, participated in their respective teams’ mini-camps over the weekend.

An All-SEC honoree in both his seasons in Oxford, Green-Ellis ranks No. 5 on the Ole Miss career rushing list with 2,137 yards and is only the second Rebel to reach the 1,000-yard single-season mark twice in his career. The New Orleans native recorded nine 100-yard rushing games, which is tied for fourth in Ole Miss history.

“This is a great organization with a great history,” said Green-Ellis of the Patriots. “It’s an honor to be a part of this team and to get a chance to show them what I can do.”

Hall finished second to Green-Ellis in rushing on the team in both of his campaigns in the Red and Blue. After signing with Ole Miss as a quarterback out of Northeast Mississippi Community College, Hall quickly moved to tailback and missed only one game over the past two years, amassing 416 rushing yards on 85 carries and 149 receiving yards on 15 catches.

BASEBALL: Setting up the last six

Setting the scene for the last six games here.

Ole Miss currently has an RPI of 47. Auburn visits this weekend with an RPI of 64. The Rebels close regular season play at Kentucky, which currently has an RPI of 39, so no real jump there if Ole Miss was go to to Lexington and win a series.

Ole Miss has 12 SEC wins, as does Alabama. Kentucky and Tennessee have 11. Arkansas and Auburn have 10. Mississippi State has seven.

This weekend’s schedule: Kentucky at Tennessee, Florida at Alabama, South Carolina at Arkansas, Georgia at Vanderbilt, Mississippi State at LSU, Auburn at Ole Miss.

Final weekend schedule: (Games played Thursday-Saturday.) Alabama at Georgia, Arkansas at Mississippi State, LSU at Auburn, Vanderbilt at Florida, Ole Miss at Kentucky, Tennessee at South Carolina.

Who will be the unlucky four to miss the SEC tournament? You figure State’s a long shot, but everybody else has a chance.

Looks like Alabama has a pretty difficult six games remaining with Florida and Georgia.

There are numerous examples of a team not making the SEC tournament but making the NCAA tournament. I don’t think that would apply to Ole Miss this year because of RPI. No doubt losses to Central Arkansas (174 RPI) and Arkansas State (186 RPI) are killing the Rebels right now.

The guess here is the Rebels need to make the SEC tournament and might even need to make it with a little breathing room if they want to feel good about their NCAA chances before play begins in Hoover.

– PA

BASEBALL: SEC Standings

That three-game lead at the mid-way point once seemed really strong. Now it’s a dog fight, though the Dogs are still a long shot.

East

Georgia 17-6-1 31-15-1

Vanderbilt 14-9 34-13

South Carolina 13-11 24-7

Florida 13-11 28-18

Kentucky 11-13 34-14

Tennessee 11-13 25-23

West

LSU 12-11-1 32-16-1

Alabama 12-12 28-22

Ole Miss 12-12 31-19

Arkansas 10-13 28-20

Auburn 10-14 26-23

MSU 7-17 19-28

– PA