By Adam Brown
Ole Miss baseball returns to the diamond at Swayze Field on Feb. 13, to open the 2026 season. The Rebels begin the 2026 ledger with a three-game, home slate against Nevada.
Ole Miss finished last season with a 43-21 overall record and a 16-14 mark in SEC play. The Rebels hosted a regional and lost to Murray State 12-11 in the championship game of the regional.
Over the next few days, we will examine the team position by position, and today, we are focusing on the pitchers.
Let’s look at the returning arms to the pitching staff first.
Ole Miss returns its ace in senior, left-hander Hunter Elliott, to the bump. Last season, Elliott made 16 starts with 17 appearances over 85.2 innings with a 10-3 record and a 2.94 ERA. The southpaw recorded 102 strikeouts to 40 walks, while only allowing 59 hits and 31 runs, with 28 being earned runs.
Junior right-hander Hudson Calhoun will be back on the mound at Swayze. Calhoun went 3-0 in 21 appearances for the Rebels with a 5.11 ERA in 24.2 innings pitched, in which he surrendered 18 runs on 15 hits with 37 strikeouts and 18 walks.
Sophomore right-hander Cade Townsend looks to build on his freshman performance on the bump. In the 2025 season, Townsend made 15 trips to the mound with eight starts, going 1-0 on the year. The righty tossed 34.0 complete frames as he allowed 28 hits and 30 runs with 43 strikeouts to 20 walks.
Sophomore left-hander Walker Hooks returns to the Rebels after going 1-2 as a freshman in 22 appearances with two starts and picking up a save. The southpaw worked 37.1 innings, allowed 43 hits on 22 runs with 43 strikeouts and 12 walks. He finished the season with a 4.82 ERA.
Senior right-hander Landon Waters returns to the Red and Blue. Last season, Waters made 17 appearances with a 2-0 record and a save in 18.2 innings worked as he gave up 18 hits and 13 runs with 24 strikeouts and 18 walks.
Sophomore left-hander Cooper Johnson returns to the staff. In 2025, Johnson made four appearances and worked 3.1 innings, allowing six hits and four runs with three strikeouts, finishing with an 8.10 ERA.
Sophomore Owen Hancock made four appearances out of the bullpen. Hancock went 1-0 on the season and tossed 3.1 innings, allowing two hits on two runs with five strikeouts to four walks.
Sophomore right-hander Taylor Rabe went 0-1 last season with two starts in 16 appearances. Rabe worked 16.1 innings, allowing 22 hits and 15 runs with eight strikeouts and two walks, with a 4.41 ERA.
THE NEWCOMERS
Right-handed senior Marko Sipila, comes to Oxford from San Diego State. Last season, with the Aztecs, Sipila started in 12 games with a 4-3 record and a 3.91 ERA, and tossed 71.1 innings, with a team-high 74 strikeouts and nearly two complete games.
Junior Owen Kelly comes to Ole Miss from the Saint Louis Billikens where he had 16 starts in 30 appearances over his career and had a 7-2 overall record with a 4.49 ERA in 110.1 innings pitched in his career with 108 strikeouts. Seventy-nine of his career Ks came as a sophomore.
Junior LHP Patrick Collopy comes from Temple (Texas) College. At Temple College, Collopy made 13 starts out of 15 appearances with a 7-2 record, worked 69.0 innings with 81 strikeouts and a 2.87 ERA.
Freshman right-hander Noah Allen from Watkinsville, Ga., and was a four-year letterwinner at North Oconee High School. Allen was an All-State player in 2024 and 2025 and helped lead his team to the AAAA State title.
Freshman southpaw Grayson Gibson heads to Oxford from Tampa, Fla., and Calvary Christian. Gibson is a three-year varsity letterwinner and helped his team win a state championship in 2023. In his senior season, Gibson had a 9-0 record with 111 strikeouts and a 0.32 ERA.
Freshman Luke Romine comes to Ole Miss as a left-handed pitcher and first baseman from Hernando, MS.
Junior right-hander Landon Koenig comes to Oxford from North Dakota State. Koenig, in 33 appearances over 106.1 innings, tossed with 87 strikeouts and a 6.60 ERA.
Sophomore right-hander Terry Hayes comes in from Bellevue College. Hayes missed his freshman season due to injury. Last season, as a redshirt freshman, he posted a 7-2 record with a 0.82 ERA and 84 strikeouts with just six runs allowed in 66 innings pitched.
Sophomore southpaw Wil Libbert comes to Ole Miss from Missouri. Libbert spent two seasons with the Tigers after a redshirt in his freshman season. In 2025, he went 3-4 on the bump in 11 starts over 53.2 innings and struck out 55 batters with a 6.04 ERA.
Freshman right-hander Blake Llitch from Detroit, Mich. and played at Brother Rice.
Freshman right-hander Evan Farrow comes to Oxford from Austin, Texas, and played at Vandegrift. Farrow was a three-year letterman named the team MVP in 2024 and District Pitcher of the Year in 2025.
Redshirt sophomore JP Robertson played junior college at Pearl River Community College.
Redshirt freshman right-hander Jake Reigert from Cottage Grove, Minn. and played at East Ridge.
Freshman right-hander Leo Odom from Sumrall, Miss., played at Sumrall High School. Odom was a four-year letterwinner with a 3.06 overall ERA. In 2024, he was 9-0 on the mound and helped his team to two state championships in 2022 and 2024. Odom finished his high school career with a 16-7 overall record with 200 strikeouts in 126.0 innings.
