It’s become a full circle moment for Ole Miss second baseman Dom Decker.
The Indiana junior helped walk off Sunday’s Lincoln Regional with sac fly to score Cannon Golden with the winning run in the Rebels’ 5-4 win over Arizona State to win the Lincoln Regional at the University of Nebraska.
This time last year, Decker was preparing to go to Duke and beat the Blue Devils in the Durham Super Regional. This week, he lead Ole Miss to the Auburn Super Regional and try to make it a back-to-back College World Series experiences.
“It’s a full circle moment,” Decker said Tuesday. “I’m grateful for the opportunity,”
Decker led Murray State last year in hitting (.351 average) and OBS at .496.
At Ole Miss, he’s had to adjust to facing SEC-level competition on a weekly basis.
“It’s been a ride. I have had my ups and downs. I liked going to difference places and I like competing at the highest level,” Decker said.
Dom Decker
Ole Miss is 39-21 overall and Decker’s key stat is 60 runs in 60 games, a run a game. His average is down from a year ago at .273 but his OBS has improved because he has drawn more walks. He is now at 50 for the season.
“Our focus is to win every pitch,” he said. “It is the same process. If we stick to our process, good things happen.”
That process was key in Decker fighting off pitchers against Arizona State closer Derek Schafer in the 10th inning.
“It was really cool, but my team put me into a really good spot.”
All Decker was a fly ball to score Golden from third and get the walk off. This will be the Rebels ninth Super Regional. The goal is getting to their third CWS since 2014.
A key has been the pitching staff.
“Its been impressive with our guys,” he said. “The bullpen has been great. I thought we could go 15 or 16 innings because we knew they would hold the other team to zeroes. It lifted the pressure off the offense.”
Another factor is the team’s chemistry.
“We really mesh well,” he said. “I know Coach (Bianco) joked about us wanting to be on a bus than fly. But we’ll get back there and play “Mafia’ and its really cool.”
