Ole Miss turns to Omaha hero Jack Dougherty for opener against No. 13 Maryland
Feb. 24—OXFORD — The last time Ole Miss junior Jack Dougherty started on the mound, he was in Omaha in front of 25,000 screaming fans, on his way to cementing himself in Rebels lore for eternity.
The stakes are a bit lower for his first start of the 2023 season, but No. 4 Ole Miss (4-0) needs his steadiness all the same.
Dougherty started the opening game of the College World Series championship series against Oklahoma in June, his first start in three months after spending much of the season coming out of the bullpen. He responded with one of the all-time great — if not a tad unexpected — performances: Dougherty was perfect through five innings and gave up two earned runs en route to the victory, helping set the stage for Ole Miss' national title.
Dougherty will start Friday's opener at Swayze Field against No. 13 Maryland, as sophomore ace Hunter Elliott will miss the three-game series after undergoing an MRI for forearm tightness following his season debut. Elliott's status going forward has not yet been announced. Freshman Grayson Saunier and junior Xavier Rivas will start Saturday and Sunday.
Dougherty pitched 2 1/3 perfect innings in relief last Saturday, striking out five of the seven Delware batters he faced.
"You have to kind of erase that to an extent. Like, obviously it's something I want to hold onto for the rest of my life, but you can't pitch like you're holding onto a championship," Dougherty said. "It's a new year, it's time to go get another one."
No. 13 Maryland (2-2) is coming off an 8-6 loss to West Virginia but is one of the top teams in the Big Ten. The Terrapins were the Big Ten regular-season champions last season, hosted a regional and won 48 games before eventually bowing out to UConn in the regional. Maryland was second nationally with 2.21 home runs per game and fifth with 9.2 runs scored per game.
The Terrapins have six players who were first-team All-Big Ten teams last season, led by infielder Matt Shaw (22 home runs in 2022) and ace Jason Savacool (2.93 ERA in 2022), who is Friday's likely starter.
"Mentality is pretty much just execute pitches, no matter what inning it is, who you're facing. Just go out there and trust your stuff and make pitches," Dougherty said.
In addition to three games against Maryland this weekend, Ole Miss plays the Terrapins next Friday in Minneapolis at the Cambria College Classic. The Rebels will also face Big Ten foes Minnesota and Nebraska next weekend.
"It's four times in a row (on weekends against Maryland), but it's part of it," Ole Miss coach Mike Bianco said. "We play a lot of games. Nobody will remember that when we're playing our 50th game."
Friday's game is set to start at 4 p.m. and will be broadcast on SEC Network Plus.
MICHAEL KATZ is the Ole Miss athletics reporter for the Daily Journal. Contact him at michael.katz@djournal.com.
