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Diamond Rebels Preview: Ole Miss Looks to Talented Group of Returnees and No. 7 Transfer-Portal Class as Baseball Set to Open 2024 Season

Posted by | Feb 14, 2024 |

Diamond Rebels Preview: Ole Miss Looks to Talented Group of Returnees and No. 7 Transfer-Portal Class as Baseball Set to Open 2024 Season

OXFORD, Miss. — As the Rebels enter the 2024 season, spirits are up, as is the norm for Ole Miss baseball fans. The thought of right field beer showers and the best atmosphere in college baseball at Swayze Field are on every Diamond Rebel fan’s mind. Ole Miss has multiple returners from the 2023 squad, as well as a transfer class that is ranked No. 7 by D1 Baseball.

While big bats with big booms are what the fans love to see, if 2023 proved anything, it’s that pitching wins and loses games in the SEC. Nothing on this 2024 Ole Miss team will be more important than the hurlers.

Pitching Wins Games

Ole Miss received devastating news right out of the gate for their pitching staff this season, as second-year transfer Xavier Rivas went down with a torn UCL in an intrasquad game at Swayze Field. Rivas, who transferred to Ole Miss from Indianapolis last season, was expected to be a weekend starter for the Rebs in 2024, but will now miss the entirety of the season. Coupled with superstar Hunter Elliott already being done for the year with Tommy John surgery, and the Rebs are looking for the rest of their staff to step up in a big way.

When Ole Miss takes the diamond out on the island in Hawaii this weekend in the season opener, JT Quinn will take the mound on Friday night. In the double header on Saturday, the first game will have lefty Gunnar Dennis — a junior southpaw transfer out of Meridian (Miss.) CC — as the starter, followed by Grayson Saunier in the second game of Saturday. On Sunday, the Rebels will have Riley Maddox on the hill.

In my opinion, all the above pitchers are integral to the Rebels’ success this season — but there are two hurlers in particular who could be major keys to how the 2024 campaign will go for Ole Miss.

Grayson Saunier

The pitcher the Rebels will need to look to the most is sophomore Grayson Saunier. Saunier came to Oxford as a highly-decorated freshman from Collierville, Tennessee in 2023. He posted a 2-4 record last year, with an ERA of 6.85  with 52 strikeouts over 46 innings. His conference numbers were a testament to how tough SEC baseball is for newcomers. But, despite being a freshman in the hardest league in the nation, Saunier showed flashes of greatness.

The key for Saunier in 2024 will be innings pitched. He made it past the fourth inning three times in 2023 and looks to improve upon that. But his 52 strikeouts as compared to just 27 walks is a very good sign for an Ole Miss team that desperately needs to limit baserunners this season. Saunier worked feverishly during the offseason, adding weight and muscle, and appears primed for a breakout year. The Rebels will need it.

Josh Mallitz

The other critical piece of the 2024 season could be Josh Mallitz. One of the big keys out of the bullpen to the 2022 run to a national championship, the sophomore from Tampa, Florida, was electric, playing the role of both setup man and closer at times. He led the Rebels in ERA at 1.45 over 31 innings of work and struck out 48, while allowing just a .171 batting average to opponents. And when the lights shone brightest in the postseason, Mallitz allowed just one earned run while striking out 18 in five outings.

Mallitz missed 2023 with Tommy John surgery, leaving the Rebels without one of their best bullpen arms. His return in 2024 can give the Rebels the closer they need in big spots.

Mound Transfers To Watch

Two names to watch for Ole Miss on the mound are newcomers via the transfer portal. Mike Bianco seems to have taken a page out of Lane Kiffin’s playbook, using the portal to his advantage to try and reload his roster rather than rebuild it. Two members of his top 10 portal class are Kyler Carmack and Liam Doyle.

Kyler Carmack: Carmack, a sophomore, transferred from Arkansas State, where he was a second-team D1 Baseball All-American his freshman year. He posted a 5-3 overall record in 16 appearances, 12 of those starts, striking out 60 in 69.2 innings pitched while allowing just a .242 batting average. His ERA of 3.23 was good enough for second in the Sun Belt Conference. Carmack was a two-way player for the Red Wolves, batting .250 at the plate. He features one of the best changeups in all of college baseball.

Liam Doyle: Doyle is a sophomore transfer from Coastal Carolina. Ranked as the No. 21 impact freshman in the Sun Belt by D1 Baseball, he posted a 4.15 ERA over 56.1 innings, striking out 69. But the biggest impact stat for Doyle is that he pitched six or more innings in three of his last four starts in 2023. That ability to eat innings will be crucial for an Ole Miss squad that will need a rested bullpen.

Keep An Eye On….

Riley Maddox. He returned late last season to shake off the rust, and the junior out of Jackson Prep is back in full to start 2024. He posted a 3.00 ERA in the fall with a team-best 5.00 strikeout-to-walk ratio and has continued to look strong this spring.

A Look At The Offense

In 2022, Ole Miss hit 108 home runs as a team, piling up 610 hits on its way to a national championship. In 2023, the Rebels managed just 83 home runs on 518 hits. The drop-off was staggering, even with the loss of talent that hit the Rebels. In 2024, Ole Miss will look to rebound significantly, both with returning players and transfers.

The Names To Watch

Ethan Groff: This list couldn’t start with anyone but Ethan Groff. Groff transferred to Ole Miss in 2023 after playing three seasons at Tulane. He led the Green Wave with a .404 average in the 2022 season, including a .709 slugging percentage. And while his numbers with the bat in his hands at Ole Miss might not seem gaudy (.272, six home runs, 42 RBI), it was his 56 hits, 29 walks, and nine hit-by-pitch results that put him on base over and over again. And getting on base allowed him to do what he did better than anyone else: steal bases. Groff swiped 16 bases on 19 attempts, playing a critical role in extending innings and scoring runs.

Groff’s defensive prowess cannot be overstated as well, as he made his presence felt in the outfield multiple times in 2023.

Look for Groff to be a leader for the Rebels in 2024 and to provide an offensive spark, particularly on the basepaths.

Treyson Hughes: Mercer might not be a school familiar to Rebel fans, but transfer Treyson Hughes will be extremely familiar by the time 2024 gets going. Carrying one of the smoothest swings in the game, Hughes was a beast for the Bears, earning All So-Con First Team honors in 2023. Hughes posted a .504 on-base percentage in 2023 and finished the season on a 20-game hitting streak. His prowess with the bat in his hands will be huge for the Rebels, as he posted a .351 career batting average with Mercer, including 23 homers and 101 RBI’s. Hughes is also a defensive wizard, holding a .993 fielding percentage in his time with the Bears.

Andrew Fischer: One of the more important needs for Ole Miss entering 2024 was a solid third baseman who could lock down the hot corner and also bring a good bat to the plate. The Rebels found both of those things in Duke transfer Andrew Fischer. While a freshman with the Blue Devils, Fischer committed just one error in the field, proving himself to be a lockdown corner infielder. But Fischer also brought the big stick, whacking 11 home runs while batting .289, and becoming the only freshman in the country to record over 100 total bases.

Luke Hill: The final impact player to watch for 2024 is Arizona State transfer Luke Hill. He comes to Ole Miss following an excellent 2023 campaign, starting all 54 games for the Sun Devils and putting up a .314 batting average with 64 hits and 43 runs scored. Defensively, Hill boasted a .938 fielding percentage in 2023.

Likely opening-weekend lineup

This season, the team has 23 new players on the roster.

“That’s a lot on a 40-man roster,” Coach Bianco said at Baseball Media Day last Friday. “Kudos to Carl Lafferty our pitching coach and recruiting coordinator and to (assistant coach) Mike Clement.” (Click here for more from Coach Bianco on the start to the season.)

Coach Bianco gave a rundown of the potential lineup for opening weekend. It’s as follows:

C: Campbell Smithwick/Eli Berch

3B: Andrew Fischer/Judd Utermark

SS: Luke Hill/Brayden Randle/Ethan Lege

2B: Raegan Burford/Ethan Lege/Brayden Randle

1B: Jackson Ross

LF: John Kramer/Ethan Lege/Judd Utermark

CF: Ethan Groff

RF: Treyson Hughes

A Key to Omaha

There’s a lot to be excited about in 2024 for Ole Miss baseball, but perhaps the single greatest aspect of this particular Ole Miss team? Defense. The Rebels committed 38 errors in 2023, with 22 of those coming from the infield. This year, Mike Bianco clearly made defense a priority with his portal class. Andrew Fischer and Luke Hill, transferring in to play third base and shortstop, respectively, both boasted fielding percentages well over .900 in 2023, and committed just 16 errors between the two of them for the entirety of the 2023 season. Treyson Hughes, the transfer outfielder from Mercer, fielded .993 with the Bears. Ethan Groff, who has already patrolled the outfield for the Rebels for one season, also posted a .993 fielding percentage with just one error.

And no article about #CatcherU would be complete without mentioning Campbell Smithwick behind the plate. Smithwick is a highly-touted freshman for the Rebels out of Oxford High School. It’s not often you discuss a freshman being the starting catcher at an SEC program, but Smithwick is an exception, winning back-to-back district championships in 2022 and 2023, while being named 6A Mr. Baseball and the 6A player of the year his senior season. Look for Smithwick to easily slide into the massive shoes Hayden Dunhurst and Calvin Harris left behind defensively.

Start It Up

The Rebels open the season at a dream destination for many: Hawaii. Ole Miss will play four games against the Rainbow Warriors February 16-18, with a double header on Saturday. The home opener will be on February 21st against Arkansas State, before the Rebels welcome High Point University to Oxford February 23-25 for the first Swayze weekend of the year. Conference play will open March 15-17 with the South Carolina Gamecocks in town.

Looking Ahead

Stay tuned to The Rebel Walk for continuing Ole Miss baseball coverage throughout the season. We will bring you articles, shows, and live coverage from the games all season long.

Austin Eldridge

Austin Eldridge

Austin has more than ten years in sports media, including sports talk radio, play-by-play broadcasting and journalism. He has followed Ole Miss athletics for his entire life and has covered the Rebels and the rest of the SEC while working in the Memphis media market. Outside of sports media, Austin is a musician and outdoorsman. Before a serious accident forced him to be medically discharged, he was a multi-media journalist with the Mississippi National Guard.

About The Author

Austin Eldridge

Austin has more than ten years in sports media, including sports talk radio, play-by-play broadcasting and journalism. He has followed Ole Miss athletics for his entire life and has covered the Rebels and the rest of the SEC while working in the Memphis media market. Outside of sports media, Austin is a musician and outdoorsman. Before a serious accident forced him to be medically discharged, he was a multi-media journalist with the Mississippi National Guard.

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