PREVIEW: Ole Miss baseball looks to get back on winning track as Rebs travel to A&M
COLLEGE STATION — Ole Miss baseball is in Aggieland this weekend to take on Texas A&M. This matchup does not look like what many expected it would be, given that both the Aggies (1-5 SEC) and Rebels (0-6) were in Omaha last summer.
But may I suggest we consider stepping away from the ledge for a moment to reassess our surroundings. Sometimes it’s best to draw parallels from other teams who’ve been in similar situations, and Ole Miss fans have the very best team to do so with the 2022 National Champions.
Sure, the 2023 team has been swept twice, but so were the national champions. To make matters even more tenuous in the case of last season, both of those sweeps in 2022 occurred at Swayze.
The 2022 team notched only two SEC sweeps of its own, one on the road at LSU and the other at home against Missouri in the infamous “Don’t Let the Rebs Get Hot” series. In a perfect world, the Rebels will get halfway there this weekend and pick up a road sweep in College Station.
The Ole Miss pitching has faced hurdles due to injuries and inexperience, but we expect that to turn around as hopefully we see the return of Hunter Elliott and Riley Maddox in the next month or so, and as the younger pitchers gain more experience as they progress through the SEC. As for now, the staff’s strikeout-to-walk ratio is only 2 to 1 (232/115). The team ERA is a rather hefty 5.68 while BB’s per 9 innings are also over five.
In the meantime, Ole Miss needs to get back on track hitting the ball and putting runs on the board. The Rebels’ .198 SEC batting average has tumbled the overall season batting average to .307.
So that’s it! More hits and fewer walks and the Rebels are back in the groove. There’s no better time and place to get on a roll than the very next series. Let’s hear some echoes of Tim Elko at Bluebell Park. Hotty Toddy!
Here’s a look at the starting matchups on the mound this weekend:
Here are some notables
LEADING OFF
- Ole Miss travels to Bryan-College Station this weekend for a three-game set with the Aggies of Texas A&M. Last year’s series between the two teams was the regular season finale for both with the Aggies taking two out of three in Oxford.
- The Rebels have won three of the last five series, including a three-game sweep in 2019. They have also won the last two non-series matchups, beating Texas A&M in the SEC Tournament in 2019 and 2018.
- The Rebels and the Aggies were both College World Series teams in 2022, but did not match up against each other in the postseason.
- Mitch Murrell leads the SEC in pitching appearances with 13 total appearances out of the bullpen so far in 2023.
- Kemp Alderman is ranked eighth in the SEC in RBI with 34 RBI in 24 games. He is averaging 1.42 RBI per game. Alderman is also ranked eighth in the SEC in home runs with 10, one short of his 2022 total.
Alderman is currently riding a 19-game on-base streak dating back to February 25, the longest streak of the season for Ole Miss. He also owns the longest hitting streak at 12 games (2/25-3/11). - Ethan Groff is ranked eighth in the SEC in stolen bases with 10. He has only been caught stealing once in 11 tries.
Ole Miss is ranked third in the SEC in fielding percentage (.981) and fifth in batting average (.307). - The Rebels fell out of the top-25 in half of the national polls this week, coming in at No. 22 in the NCBWA poll, No. 23 in Perfect Game’s poll, and No. 25 in the USA Today Coaches Poll
GOING PRO
With the MLB and MiLB seasons set to start up this coming weekend, three former Rebels found themselves ranked in the Top-30 Prospects Lists for their organizations. Gunnar Hoglund is ranked as the No. 15 prospect in the Oakland Athletics organization, Ryan Rolison is ranked as the No. 28 prospect in the Colorado Rockies organization, and Doug Nikhazy is ranked as the No. 30 prospect in the Cleveland Guardians organization.
Lance Lynn (Chicago White Sox), Nick Fortes (Miami Marlins), Chad Smith (Oakland Athletics), Drew Pomeranz (San Diego Padres), and Ryan Rolison (Colorado Rockies) will all start the 2023 season on the active 40-man MLB roster for their respective clubs.
SECOND TO ONE
With two more victories, head coach Mike Bianco will pass the legendary Skip Bertman for second-most wins by an SEC head coach. Bianco currently has 869 wins as the head coach of the Rebels, trailing just behind Bertman’s 870 wins as the head coach of LSU from 1984-2001. Bianco played for Bertman at LSU from 1988-89 and coached on his staff from 1993-97.
OUT OF THE GATE
Ole Miss has scored 57 of their 194 total runs in the first two innings of games, nearly thirty percent of their total run production. They are outscoring opponents 57-17 in the first two innings of play.
(Feature image credit: Josh McCoy, Ole Miss)
David Walker
David Walker was named Louisiana’s High School Player of the Year at just 16 years old and, at 17, became college football’s first quarterback to earn Freshman of the Year honors. He remains the NCAA’s youngest-ever starting quarterback, a distinction that has stood for decades.
Transitioning from a wide-open high school offense to Emory Bellard’s renowned wishbone triple option, Walker excelled as a dual-threat quarterback. He graduated as Texas A&M’s all-time winningest quarterback and served as a two-time team captain, helping to transform a program that had endured 15 losing seasons in the previous 16 years.
After his playing career, Walker coached and taught algebra at six Texas high schools before moving into private business. In 2011, he published his memoir, “I’ll Tell You When You’re Good,” a title inspired by the coaching philosophy of Shannon Suarez, the Sulphur High and Louisiana High School Hall of Fame coach who was a significant influence on Walker’s life and career.
Walker’s compelling storytelling in his autobiography reflects the breadth of his experiences in high school and college football, and it is an undeniable fact that he saw more action than any athlete in the history of the NCAA. Since 2013, he has contributed to The Rebel Walk, sharing his insights and expertise with readers.
