By Ty G. Allushuski - Publisher 

2009-05-19

Brett Favre won’t be the only big-name athlete scheduled to visit renowned orthopedic surgeon Dr. James Andrews in Birmingham this week.

Ole Miss senior pitcher Scott Bittle will also be making a trip to the Andrews Sports Medicine and Orthopedic Center at St. Vincent’s Hospital for an examination on his throwing arm.

Bittle, who owns a 5-2 record and a 2.17 ERA this season, has not pitched since a 6-1 Sunday win against No.1 Georgia four weekends ago.

The senior righty from Texarkana, Texas was scratched from his scheduled start against Auburn the week after pitching 7.0 innings and allowing just one run against the Bulldogs.

Bittle’s condition did not improve much, if at all, even with the rest. The decision was finally made Sunday by coach Mike Bianco that Bittle would not throw in the SEC Tournament in Hoover, Ala., after the coach had a conversation with his top pitcher.

“He will go Wednesday to see Dr. Andrews in Birmingham and I don’t know anything beyond that, and what comes of that” Bianco said, “but hopefully a different set of treatment, or something else. We’re going to let (Dr. Andrews) examine him in person.”

The absence of Bittle in the Rebels rotation would seem to put more pressure on a pitching staff that leads the SEC with a combined 3.98 ERA. But, that isn’t how the Ole Miss players are approaching the situation.

“It doesn’t put any more pressure on us; we’d like to have him,” said fifth-year senior Brett Bukvich, who moved into the weekend rotation when Bittle went down. “But we have plenty of other arms to step up and they’ll do that like we’ve been doing it in the past. There’s no more pressure, but more opportunities for other arms to step up.”

Bianco said he wouldn’t take an extra pitcher to Hoover to compensate for not having Bittle. The normal 10 pitchers and 15 hitters will travel to the tournament, and it will likely be sophomore Matt Tracy that fills Bittle’s spot on the roster.

But Bianco said it goes far beyond just one guy to replace one of the top pitchers in the nation. He will look to Bukvich, Nathan Baker, Phil Irwin, Matt Tracy, Wade Broyles and others to help fill that void.

“There’s no doubt we’re a better team with Scott,” Bianco said. “There’s no doubt that he’s probably the most dominant guy in SEC when he’s on mound, but the neat thing for this club is they’ve been able to win without him and that shows you how deep the staff is. Guys can pitch out of the bullpen and as starters to help us out.”

The Rebels’ skipper, in his ninth year at the helm, has an experienced pitching staff with lots of success in Hoover to rely upon.

But maybe even more valuable than experience, Bianco has a core group of pitchers who have sacrificed egos to help the team.

“I remember a conversation with Brett (Bukvich), saying this is how we thought we’d use him; we’d use him out of the bullpen on weekends and get him some mid-week starts, “Bianco said, “and he just looked at me, smiled and said, ‘coach I just want to win I don’t care what I do.’ For a fifth-year guy, that attitude is big, but I think it’s really the attitude of the team.”

Bukvich admits that both he and Nathan Baker have had the “what-if” conversation about pitching for a smaller school and possibly being the Ace of a staff. Both, though, decided they were just fine in their roles as long as Ole Miss was winning.

“We’ve brought it up a couple times, but we all like to be here,” Bukvich said. “Pretty much everybody on the pitching staff; nobody regrets it. We like the competition; it pushes everyone. Even the guys like (Drew) Pomeranz, who are a shoe-in on the weekends, we like pushing each other and competing.”

Baker agreed.

“We talk about it sometimes just because our staff is so great,” said Baker, who started on Sundays as a freshman for the Rebels. “We have so many talented arms and when it all comes down to it, we’re just going to try to do whatever role they give us.”

Baker, a junior from Cordova, Tenn., has only started six games this season after starting a combined 22 games his first two years.

However, pitching largely out of the bullpen this season has made Baker a much-improved player. He is 4-1 with a 3.51 ERA, and is averaging almost a strikeout an inning.

“Just coming out of the bullpen has been a lot of fun, to be honest with you,” Baker said. “Coming in there for like 3-4 innings, you just try to fill up the zone. I don’t know, you get a lot more adrenaline coming out of the bullpen, and you don’t have to worry about it as much as being a starter. When I was a starter, you were preparing for the game and having so many different rituals. Being a reliever, you don’t worry about anything but pitching so it just takes a lot of stress off of you.”

Bukvich will start for Ole Miss on Thursday, win or lose, and Baker is a strong candidate to draw a weekend start, should Ole Miss make it that far.

“They both have done terrific as starters and relievers,” Bianco said. “I think that’s one reason this staff is the way it is, even with missing Scott. Guys have been able to do different things for us.”