Preview: Ole Miss Baseball Opens SEC Tournament Play vs. Mississippi State Tuesday in Hoover

HOOVER, Ala. — Ole Miss baseball faces a must-win situation Tuesday night in Hoover at the SEC Baseball Tournament as the Rebels play Mississippi State in opening-round action.

Most experts agree that head coach Mike Bianco’s squad needs to advance to at least Saturday to have a chance of being included in the NCAA postseason.

The pitching matchup features the Rebels’ Riley Maddox going up against the Bulldogs’ Brooks Auger. RHP Maddox is 3-7 on the year with a 6.1 ERA. Auger is 1-2 with a 3.78 ERA.

Ole Miss is the 12th seed in the Southeastern Conference Tournament. The Rebels finished the 2024 regular season with a 27-28 overall record, 11-19 in the SEC.

State (36-19, 17-13 SEC) is the No. 5 seed in the tournament.

The full bracket is as follows:

In April, Ole Miss earned its first SEC series win over Mississippi State since 2015. The Bulldogs, however, finished with a win in the Governor’s Cup meeting in Pearl on May 1.

Ole Miss was swept by LSU last weekend in the regular season finale, while State took the series, 2-1, over Missouri in Starkville.

Ole Miss notes 

• The Rebels went 0-4 last week, losing their final midweek to Southern Miss and getting swept in their final series against LSU, all on the road.
• Freshman Wes Mendes has allowed just one earned run over his last four outings out the bullpen. He has worked 9.1 innings and struck out 13 batters during that stretch.
• Andrew Fischer was named Second Team All-SEC at the DH/UT position on Monday.
• Fischer became just the fourth Rebel in program history to hit 20 home runs in a season last week against Southern Miss.
• Ole Miss has won four SEC series and back-to-back SEC series in a season for the first time since 2022.
• Ole Miss pitching set a new single-game program record for strikeouts against Murray State, punching out 24 Racers.
• Luke Hill is hitting .370 (27-73), with 14 runs scored, 12 RBI, nine walks over his last 19 games.
• Jackson Ross leads the SEC and is seventh in the NCAA in walks with 55. His 55 walks are the most by a Rebel in a single season since 2019.
• Ole Miss is currently No. 2 in Strength of Schedule, having played one of the hardest schedules in the country.
• The Rebels are ranked 22nd in the nation in strikeouts per nine, averaging 10.2 punchouts per game.
• Ole Miss is also 21st in the NCAA in walks drawn (299), averaging 5.44 per game.

Mississippi State Notes

• Mississippi State is ranked No. 15 by D1 Baseball, No. 14 by Baseball America, No. 22 by Perfect Game, No. 16 by NCBWA and No. 16 by the USA Today/Coaches Poll.
• Dakota Jordan won this year’s Ferris Trophy as announced Monday.
• The Bulldogs had three players who earned All-SEC honors Monday. Shortstop David Mershon and pitcher Khal Stephen were named first team All-SEC by the league’s coaches, while outfielder Dakota Jordan was tabbed second team All-SEC.
• David Mershon has been swiping bases at will this season. He is 23-for-25 in stolen bases. He stole his 23rd base of the season at Arkansas. With his 23rd stolen base, he has the tenth most stolen bases in program history. He takes over the tenth spot that Jake Mangum held. Mershon is one steal away from tying for ninth all-time. He is only six bases away from tying for the second most in a single season.
• Khal Stephen and Jurrangelo Cijntje have been aces for the Dawgs on the mound this season. Entering the SEC Tournament, the duo has eight wins and has pitched 70 plus innings each. Each has over 90 strikeouts on the season as well. The last time the Dawgs had two pitchers throw 70 or more innings, win seven or more games, and have 80 or more punchouts was during the 2019 season when Ethan Small and JT Ginn accomplished this feat.
• Stephen and Cijntje have the sixth and seventh-best ERA (3.25, Stephen; 3.48, Cijntje) in the SEC this season. Both pitchers rank in the top 10 in strikeouts in the SEC. Cijntje has 98 Ks on the season, the fourth most, while Stephen has 93 punchouts this season, the eighth most. The 10th most Ks in a single season at MSU is 121.

Game info:

The Rebels and State are set to face off at approximately 8:00 p.m. CT, and the game will be broadcast on SEC Network. The winner will face Texas A&M on Wednesday.

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.