GameDay Primer: Ole Miss baseball, ranked for the first time in nearly a year, gets USM in Pearl
It’s been nearly a full-calendar year since Ole Miss baseball was ranked in a Top 25 poll.
The Rebels were No. 13 when they hosted then-No. 3 Florida for three games in two days. Included was a Saturday (March 25) double-header. The Gators swept them to keep the Rebels winless (0-6) in SEC games. Ole Miss never recovered, enduring its first losing record since 1997. And in defense of the program’s first-ever national championship, no less.
The Rebels were supposed to face in-state rival Southern Miss in the annual Pearl (Mississippi) game the following Tuesday. The game was cancelled. Now the newly-ranked (No. 17) Rebels and Golden Eagles get their usual showdown in Trustmark Park — renewing the second-most-played non-conference series in Ole Miss history.
Ole Miss has won 83 of its 136 all-time meetings with Southern Miss (14-6, 3-0 SBC). The Rebels beat the No. 25 Golden Eagles, 11-5, in Oxford last season. It was the only game played between the teams.
The Rebels (15-6, 2-1 SEC) have won nine of their last 10 games.
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A NEW BEGINNING
Christian Ostrander is in his first season as Southern Miss head coach. He replaced Scott Berry, who retired after 14 seasons.
Ostrander served the previous six seasons as USM pitching coach. He was associate head coach for Berry the last two and helped lead the Golden Eagles to five NCAA regional berths. They’ve been to back-to-back Super Regionals.
RARIFIED CON-AIR
Ole Miss senior RHP Connor Spencer is tied for the SEC lead in saves (4).
Spencer transferred to Ole Miss from Southeastern Louisiana last summer. He also pitched previously at Northwest (Mississippi) Community College. Spencer boasts the highest strikeout average in the SEC.
Twelve of his 18 outs have come by way of strikeout.
“I’ve normally been a back-end reliever ever since I was at Northwest Mississippi Community College,” Spencer said Friday night, following a 5-4 comeback win for the Rebels. Spencer went 1.2 innings for his fourth save.
“I was coming back from Tommy John (elbow surgery) and couldn’t really go the distance (as a starter). They (said), ‘Hey, let’s let you be the closer.’ I was throwing pretty hard, and I got recruited to my college I was at last year, Southeastern (Louisiana). I was a closer there for a while. Then I come here, and they (wanted me) in that back-end part. I know that my job is to go out there end just pound the zone. Tonight, we came out with a win.”
Coastal Carolina transfer Liam Doyle is right behind him.
Doyle — who has been brilliant as the replacement for now-twice-injured weekend starter JT Quinn — is right behind him. He’s averaging 17.8 K/9.
Doyle racked up 18 strikeouts over his last two starts. He had an Ole-Miss-season-high 10 in a 12-3 win over the Gamecocks on Saturday.
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PUNCHOUTS AND CLUTCH HITS
The Ole Miss pitching staff has posted double-digit strikeouts in six of its last nine games. The Rebels have 224 total strikeouts, the ninth-most in college baseball. They’re No. 14 in K/9 (11.1).
Middle-of-the-order sluggers Ethan Lege and Jackson Ross have delivered for the Rebels seemingly all season. However, they’ve been especially deadly with two outs. Lege has 12 RBI and a .462 (12 for 26) average in such situations. Ross has eight hits (and seven RBI) in 23 at-bats (.348) with two outs.
GETTING THEIR STEPS IN
Ole Miss, in 21 games, has drawn the third-most walks (157) in the country.
The Rebels are taking their passes, on average, 7.48 times a game. They’re joined atop the national leaderboard by fellow SEC contenders South Carolina, Texas A&M and Georgia.
Ross is third in the NCAA and leads the SEC with 26 total walks. His single-game average (1.24) is the best in the SEC. Luke Hill, a transfer shortstop from Arizona State, is sixth in the SEC with 18 walks.
Ole Miss set a new single-game program record with 19 walks in its series finale with High Point earlier this season. Ross, a transfer first baseman/designated hitter from FAU, leads the SEC, and is third nationally, in the category (26). He’s reached base safely in 19 straight games.
