Photo credit: Ole Miss
Ole Miss lefthander Hunter Elliott needed a few moments to soak it all in while the national anthem played before the Rebels' season opener against Arizona.
This was a moment he had been waiting for the past two years. He’ll remember this game for the rest of his playing career after he shined in a 2-1 season-opening win.
“I don’t know when it truly hit me — I think it hit me during the national anthem. My heart was pumping,” Elliott said after the win over Arizona. “It was a good walk from the bullpen to the mound to kind of slow my heart rate down. It was fine by the time it ended.
“Getting back out there, it just felt good,” he added. “My adrenaline was flowing, and I couldn’t feel my body at times. It had been a pretty long time since I had been out there.”
A long time, indeed.
It seems like ancient history at this point that Elliott was once atop college baseball’s highest mountain. He put together a magical freshman season for the Rebels, tallying a 2.70 ERA in 80 innings of work, 102 strikeouts and 34 walks. But even beyond those impressive stats in the rugged SEC, his performances on the road to the program’s first national title were legendary.
He allowed just two runs in the national title-clinching game over Oklahoma and finished that Omaha run with a 2.08 ERA in 13 innings, along with 10 strikeouts and four walks. All of that as a true freshman? Bonkers, or shall we say, somewhat legendary.
Less than a year later, Elliott was supposed to be one of the big reasons the Rebels would return to the NCAA tournament and potentially the College World Series. Instead, he had just one start and two appearances and missed the remainder of the 2023 season. Ole Miss failed to reach the NCAA tournament that season. In addition to missing the entire 2023 season, the rehab process from his elbow surgery sidelined Elliott yet again last season. The result for Mike Bianco’s Rebels? They finished the season with a 27-29 overall record, an 11-19 mark in the SEC, and, of course, did not make the postseason for a second straight season.
Now, with Elliott in the fold and several more intriguing pieces part of this team, the Rebels look to end that hiatus while also cementing Elliott’s legacy with one last, special hurrah.
“I am really proud of him. It’s not easy; it’s the truth. This is what you had hoped for [with Elliott], that a guy like him would come back like that and then go out there and not make the moment too big, but it wasn’t easy,” Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco said after the game. “It truly hasn’t been an easy road for him, but we are sure glad to have him back.”
Three years removed from that run in Omaha, Elliott didn’t look much different on Friday night than he did at times during that rise to stardom his freshman season.
Elliott allowed a single to Arizona talented outfielder Brendan Summerhill to begin the game before Summerhill proceeded to steal second base. He got a strikeout before Summerhill was caught stealing. He finished the first frame back with a fly out to extinguish the minor threat.
In that tone-setting first inning, Elliott sat 90-92 mph with his fastball, but did reach back and get 94 mph on the gun on a single pitch. He did not touch 94 mph the rest of his outing, but ultimately settled in around 90-92 and dropped down to 88-92 by the end of his outing.
Elliott was able to keep the Wildcats off balance by mixing speeds and locations effectively. They weren’t getting particularly good swings off his fastball. He also attacked with a low-80s slider, while his signature changeup had plenty of tumble and was more in the 76-80 mph range.
Elliott, on a pitch count of around 75 pitches, struck out three, walked three and allowed just two hits in five shutout innings.
“I thought my stuff was really good early, and then I kind of settled in,” Elliott said. “And maybe I got a little tired late. I haven’t had the adrenaline flowing like that in a big game in a long time, so I might have red-lined a little bit. It was good to get those last couple of frames and keep our team in the game.”
“I kind of came into this start with a pitch count of 75 pitches,” he added. “I wasn’t in a great spot after three innings, maybe around 60 pitches — so I knew I had to have a couple of good innings [to close out the start.”
This night and moment belonged to Hunter Elliot.
To go from the highest of highs to essentially watching from afar for two straight seasons is excruciating, and every ounce of rehab and preparation over the last 12 months helped Elliott get back to this moment.
It is just one start, but this type of outing gives him, and the Rebels, plenty of hope moving forward.
He’s going to let this one soak in for a while.
