No. 17 Ole Miss Baseball (31-15, 11-10 SEC) opens the month of May this weekend in Fayetteville, Arkansas with a three-game series against the No. 22 Razorbacks (30-16, 11-10 SEC). First pitch on Friday is set for 6 p.m. with Saturday and Sunday set for 2 p.m.
LEADING OFF
- The Rebels have dropped three-straight games after losing the Governor’s Cup game to No. 10 Mississippi State on Tuesday.
- Ole Miss took one of three last weekend against No. 5 Georgia, dropping the final two games of the series.
- The Rebels hit 14 home runs last week, five against Murray State on Tuesday and nine in the first two games against Georgia.
- Will Furniss hit three of those home runs, hitting .429 with six RBI and four walks last week.
- Ole Miss and Auburn are the only two teams in the SEC to have played or will play the four teams that currently occupy the top of the league standings.
- The Rebels come into this week ranked No. 17 by D1Baseball, No. 18 by both USA Today and the NCBWA, and No. 22 by both Perfect Game and Baseball America.
- Walker Hooks made two more appearances last weekend, picking up a save in game one against the Bulldogs. He now has a 1.14 ERA over his last 11 outings.
- Hooks is tied for the lead in saves (5) and has the second-lowest ERA (1.71) amongst qualified pitchers during SEC play.
- Owen Paino hit .385 with a home run, four RBI, and four runs scored last week.
- Over his last 17 games, Hayden Federico has hit .396 (19-for-48) with 12 walks, four HBPs, 13 RBI, and 10 runs scored.
- Judd Utermark and Tristan Bissetta have combined to hit 36 of Ole Miss’ 78 (46%) home runs this season.
- Ole Miss now leads the SEC in walks drawn with 262 free passes. That is good enough for 10th in the NCAA. Dom Decker is tied for the SEC individual lead with 43 walks.
- Cade Townsend is now ranked sixth in ERA (2.33), fourth in WHIP (0.97), and third in strikeouts per nine innings (13.21) in the SEC.
- Taylor Rabe leads the SEC in strikeout-to-walk ratio during conference play, punching out 8.25 hitters for every walk he has issued.
- The Ole Miss pitching staff has struck out 515 batters, second-most in the SEC and fourth in the NCAA. Their K/9 of 11.5 is fourth in the SEC, their strikeout-to-walk ratio of 3.46 is fourth in the SEC and their ERA of 4.08 is fifth in the conference.
- Will Furniss played in his 200th game for Ole Miss in game one against Georgia, becoming just the 21st Rebel to reach that milestone.
Starting pitchers (from left) Hunter Elliott, Cade Townsend and Taylor Rabe
PROJECTED PITCHING MATCHUPS
Friday: LHP Hunter Elliott (4-1, 4.82 ERA) vs. LHP Hunter Dietz (5-2, 3.62 ERA)
Saturday: RHP Cade Townsend (4-1, 2.33 ERA) vs. LHP Cole Gibler (4-1, 2.91 ERA)
Sunday: RHP Taylor Rabe (3-3, 4.24 ERA) vs. TBA
BROADCAST INFORMATION
Friday and Saturday’s games will be streamed live on SEC Network+ with on the call. Sunday’s game will be broadcast on SEC Network with Tom Hart (PxP) and Chris Burke (analyst) on the call.
Fans can listen to all Ole Miss Baseball games, home and away, on the Ole Miss Radio Network with David Kellum (PxP) and Brad Henderson (analyst) on the call.
SCOUTING REPORT
Legendary NCAA baseball coach Dave Van Horn is in his 33rd year as a skipper, and in his 24th with Arkansas. He’s earned over 1,300 career wins and is approaching 1,000 with the Razorbacks. In his tenure, he’s led Arkansas to eight College World Series appearances, including a runner-up finish in 2018, as well as three SEC overall titles and one SEC Tournament championship.
Arkansas ranks near the middle in most SEC statistical categories. They excel best at scoring on sacrifice flies, sitting third in the conference with 23 this season. Its pitching staff has also been keen on throwing shutouts, ranking 11th in the country with five this season so far. Part of that success has been its strikeout-to-walk ratio of 2.92, which is 14th in the country but just eighth in the SEC.
Hunter Dietz and Cole Gibler will get the starts on Friday and Saturday, respectively. Gibler leads the team with a 2.91 ERA, but Dietz is has shown to be one of the best pitchers in the SEC by leading the conference strikeouts with 92. He ranks sixth nationally in that category. Arkansas also has former SEC Pitcher of the Week Colin Fisher, who had a complete game earlier this season.
At the plate, Camden Kozeal and Ryder Helfrick lead the way as the only players to start at least 45 games this season. Helfrick leads the team with 14 home runs while Kozeal is just behind with 12, but the latter paced the Razorbacks with 50 RBI. Carter Rutenbar has the team’s highest batting average at .330, and Damian Ruiz is also north of a .300 batting average at .310.
SEC BASEBALL STANDINGS
| conf | cpct | overall | opct | home | road | neutral | strk | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Georgia | 13-5 | 0.722 | 35-11 | 0.761 | 25-7 | 10-3 | 0-1 | W3 |
 Texas A&M | 12-5 | 0.706 | 34-8 | 0.810 | 23-3 | 9-4 | 2-1 | W3 |
 Texas | 11-6 | 0.647 | 33-9 | 0.786 | 23-3 | 7-6 | 3-0 | W2 |
 Mississippi State | 11-8 | 0.579 | 35-10 | 0.778 | 23-6 | 8-3 | 4-1 | W9 |
 Auburn | 10-8 | 0.556 | 30-12-1 | 0.709 | 20-7-1 | 6-5 | 4-0 | W1 |
 Oklahoma | 10-8 | 0.556 | 28-14-1 | 0.663 | 18-5 | 6-8-1 | 4-1 | L1 |
 Florida | 10-8 | 0.556 | 29-16 | 0.644 | 19-12 | 9-4 | 1-0 | L2 |
 Ole Miss | 10-9 | 0.526 | 31-15 | 0.674 | 24-6 | 5-6 | 2-3 | L3 |
 Alabama | 10-9 | 0.526 | 30-16 | 0.652 | 19-5 | 8-10 | 3-1 | W1 |
 Arkansas | 9-9 | 0.500 | 30-16 | 0.652 | 18-10 | 8-5 | 4-1 | W1 |
 Vanderbilt | 9-10 | 0.474 | 27-20 | 0.574 | 22-8 | 4-7 | 1-5 | L1 |
 Tennessee | 8-10 | 0.444 | 30-15 | 0.667 | 24-9 | 4-5 | 2-1 | W3 |
 Kentucky | 8-10 | 0.444 | 27-15 | 0.643 | 17-5 | 10-10 | 0-0 | W1 |
 LSU | 6-12 | 0.333 | 25-21 | 0.543 | 19-11 | 3-10 | 3-0 | W1 |
 South Carolina | 5-13 | 0.278 | 22-24 | 0.478 | 18-14 | 4-8 | 0-2 | L2 |
 Missouri | 3-15 | 0.167 | 21-23 | 0.477 | 12-13 | 3-9 | 6-1 | W1 |