No. 1 Ole Miss Opens Conference Play at Auburn

OXFORD, Miss. — Ole Miss (13-3) begins Southeastern Conference play on the road today with a three-game, Thursday-to-Saturday series against Auburn (13-4) at Plainsman Park.

The Rebels look to rebound from a 5-1 loss at Southeastern Louisiana on Tuesday.

Head coach Mike Bianco’s team enters the series as the nation’s No. 1 team — something not overlooked by Auburn head coach Butch Thompson, who is 3-2 in SEC home openers.

Auburn head coach Butch Thompson

Numbers and notes

Ole Miss has won each of the team’s last five opening series. In 2021, the Rebs swept the Tigers in Oxford, but it’s worth noting the Red and Blue has not won a series in Auburn since 2009.

• The Rebels have scored 152 runs this season, and that’s a program record as they begin SEC play.
• Ole Miss ranks in the top-20 in a number of categories, including walks (17th), earned run average (12th), home runs (20th), on-base percentage (15th), runs (14th), slugging percentage (15th) and strikeouts per nine innings (9th).
• As of the most recent available data, Ole Miss ranks second in the nation in total attendance at 78,582 and third in average attendance at 9,823.
• The Rebels are ranked in the top-10 in all six major polls, reaching number one (D1Baseball and USA Today Coaches Poll) for just the second time in program-history.

Scouting the Tigers

Blake Rambusch and Jake Wyandt currently lead Auburn with seven-game hitting streaks. Rambusch is hitting .462 (12-for-26) during his streak, while Wyandt is hitting .409 (9-for-22).

Ryan Dyal leads the Tigers — and ranks in the top 25 in the NCAA — with 22 RBI.

Auburn’s starting pitchers are 6-1 with a 2.16 ERA on the season. Trace Bright will record his fifth straight start this weekend.

The Rebels, in comparison, rank fourth in the conference with a 2.59 ERA and have 169 strikeouts in 128.1 innings.

Probable Starters

Thursday –  Sr. LHP John Gaddis (2-0, 1.42) vs. Jr. RHP Mason Barnett (1-0, 2.13)

Friday – Jr. RHP Derek Diamond (3-0, 3.86) vs. TBA

Saturday –  TBA vs. Jr. RHP Trace Bright (2-0, 1.17)

Game Times and TV info

First pitches are set for Thursday at 6 p.m. CT (SEC Network), Friday at 6 p.m. (SEC Network+) and Saturday at 2 p.m (SEC Network+)

(Feature image credit: Josh McCoy, Ole Miss)

Evelyn Van Pelt

Evelyn has covered sports for over two decades, beginning her journalism career as a sports writer for a newspaper in Austin, Texas. She attended Texas A&M and majored in English. Evelyn’s love for Ole Miss began when her daughter Katie attended the university on a volleyball scholarship. Evelyn created the Rebel Walk in 2013 and has served as publisher and managing editor since its inception.