Ole Miss Baseball Hosts State this Weekend
OXFORD, Miss. – Ole Miss (18-15, 3-9 SEC) and Mississippi State (21-12, 6-6 SEC) will meet for their annual three-game battle this weekend at Swayze Field.
Here’s the expected pitching matchups:
Ole Miss has announced a sellout for Saturday’s game, coming on the same day as Ole Miss football’s Grove Bowl Games. Limited tickets are still available for Friday (first pitch at 7 p.m. and televised on SEC Network) and Sunday (first pitch at 1:30 p.m.). Saturday’s sellout is set to start at 7:30 p.m. CT and will be nationally televised on ESPN2.
Before Saturday’s game against the Bulldogs, fans can head to Vaught-Hemingway Stadium for the Grove Bowl Games, starting at 3 p.m. CT. Click here for more Grove Bowl Games information.
LEADING OFF
- Ole Miss is coming off a road sweep at the hands of unanimous No. 1 Arkansas in Fayetteville last weekend.
- The Rebels had their midweek against Murray State postponed this week due to weather in Oxford.
- Ole Miss is currently No. 1 in Strength of Schedule, having played the hardest schedule in the country to date.
- The Rebels are ranked 17th in the nation in strikeouts per nine, averaging 10.6 punchouts per game.
- Ole Miss is eighth in the NCAA in walks drawn (210), averaging 6.36 per game. They are one of three SEC teams in the top eight.
- The Rebels are tied for fourth in the country in sacrifice flies with 24. The next closest SEC team has 20 (Auburn).
- Andrew Fischer has hit 13 home runs this season, seven of them in SEC play. His 13 long balls have him tied for 23rd in the country.
- Jackson Ross leads the SEC and is 13th in the country in walks with 34 free passes.
- Ethan Lege is the second-hardest hitter to strike out in the SEC, striking out just nine times in 114 at bats.
- Connor Spencer has five saves this season, tied at the top of the SEC with Arkansas’ Gabe Gaeckle and South Carolina’s Garrett Gainey.
SCOUTING REPORT
Mississippi State comes into the weekend with a 21-12 overall record and an even 6-6 record in conference play. MSU is coming off a 2-1 series win last weekend against Georgia. Last season, Mississippi State finished with an overall record of 27-26 and 9-21 in SEC play.
The two in-state rivals have met 474 times with MSU holding a 255-214-5 advantage in the series. The in-state foes last squared off in the 2023 season in Starkville where the Bulldogs walked away with the 2-1 series win.
This is Chris Lemonis’ sixth year as head coach for Mississippi State. During the Lemonis era, the Bulldogs captured their first national championship in 2021. Lemonis is also the first Division I head coach to reach the College World Series in his first two full seasons as head coach of a program in the Super Regional era (since 1999).
BIG GAME TWO GUY
Andrew Fischer is hitting .467 (14-for-30) with 10 home runs, 17 RBI, and 15 runs scored in game two of series this season. He has hit at least one home run in five of this season’s eight game twos and all four of his multi-home run games have come in game twos. Over the first four weeks of SEC play, Fischer has hit seven home runs and driven in 10 runs in game twos.
STEALING YOUR HEART
The Rebels have stolen 39 bases so far this season, just three short of their entire season total from 2023 and already five more than 2022. Since setting a new single-season program record in 2019 (93), Ole Miss has not stolen more than 44 bases in a season. They are currently averaging 1.18 stolen bases per game.
Ethan Groff has stolen 11 bases in 2024, having not been caught yet. Luke Hill is 9-for-10 in stolen base attempts.
THE ROAD TO 1,000
Head coach Mike Bianco needs just three more wins to reach 1,000 victories in his career. He currently sits at 997 career wins, with 897 coming at Ole Miss. His first 100 wins came from his three seasons at McNeese State.
Once Bianco reaches the milestone, he would be the 21st active coach with 1,000 wins under his belt. He would also become the 98th head coach in NCAA history to reach the mark.
In 24 seasons leading the program, Bianco has delivered 18 postseason appearances, including eight Super Regional berths and a pair of trips to the College World Series. He is the winningest-coach in Ole Miss history and ranks third all-time in wins by an SEC head coach.
CAPTAIN CLUTCH
Ethan Lege has been the Rebels’ most clutch hitter, hitting .432 (16-for-37) with two outs in an inning. He has 14 two-out RBI, is hitting .344 with runners in scoring position, and is 8-for-12 when hitting with a runner on third base and less than two outs.
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.
