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Ole Miss changing up pitching rotation for Oxford Regional opener against Murray State

11by: Jake Thompson05/29/25JakeThompsonOn3
Syndication: The Montgomery Advertiser
Ole Miss Rebels' Riley Maddox (2) pitches as Arkansas Razorbacks take on Ole Miss Rebels during the SEC baseball tournament at Hoover Met in Birmingham, Ala., on Friday, May 23, 2025. Ole Miss Rebels defeated Arkansas Razorbacks 5-2. Mandatory credit: © Jake Crandall/ Montgomery Advertiser / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The new normal for Regional play is for a team to hold its ace for the second, and presumably winner’s, game on Saturday. Add Ole Miss to this list.

Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco announced on Thursday that Riley Maddox will get the start against Murray State in Friday’s game to open up the Oxford Regional. First pitch set for 7 p.m. CT on ESPN+.

Old school way of thinking is for the ace to get the traditional Friday start but Hunter Elliott is going to be held for Saturday. The assumption being the Rebels get past the Racers and are in the winner’s game against either 2 Seed Georgia Tech or 3 Seed Western Kentucky on Saturday at 5 p.m. CT

“Looked at it all and thought it worked best for all three games,” Bianco said. “I think, first, you want to take it one game at a time, which everybody would imagine. But a lot of the splits are similar to all three clubs. So, we thought it was the way looking at all three clubs we might play.”

When looking at the Racers presumed lineup there are five left-handed hitters that could face Maddox, the right-hander.

Entering Friday Maddox has a season earned run average of 5.26 and 67 strikeouts to go with 27 walks. He is coming off an outing against Arkansas in last week’s quarterfinal game in the Southeastern Conference tournament where he worked 5.2 innings, allowing two runs – both earned – off three hits and struck out seven in the win.

Ole Miss and Murray State will be meeting for the second time this season. The two played at Oxford-University Stadium on March 5 with the Rebels winning, 8-7, in 10 innings.

“Obviously a really good team. We know that,” outfielder Isaac Humphrey said on Thursday. “They came here earlier in the year and they took us to the wire. It’s going to be a battle no matter who it is, no matter who we play. But they’re a good team and you can’t take them for granted.”

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