Preview: Ole Miss travels to Baton Rouge to Face LSU in Series with Huge Postseason Implications for Both Teams

OXFORD, Miss. — Ole Miss (27-25, 11-16 SEC) travels to Baton Rouge to take on LSU (33-20 10-17) this weekend in a huge series with postseason implications for both teams as they conclude the regular season. 

Starters for the weekend are as follows, with LSU holding their usual Friday-night starter, Luke Holman, until game two of the series this weekend.

The Rebels took the series over No. 2 Texas A&M last weekend before traveling to Hattiesburg and falling to Southern Miss, 7-4, on Tuesday in their final midweek of the season.

What the Rebels must do for postseason

The series against LSU will likely determine the Rebels’ fate for both the SEC and NCAA Tournaments.

Ole Miss is sitting with 11 conference wins as they head into the three-game series against the Tigers. Since 2013 when the SEC expanded to 14 teams, only once has a team made the NCAA Tournament without winning at least 13 conference games. 

The Bad News: Even with 13 wins, it is not a given that the Rebs would make the NCAA tournament. Of the teams who notched 13 league wins in the modern SEC, those squads went 5-for-12 when it came to qualifying for an NCAA regional.

The Good News: Ole Miss enters the final series with an RPI of 24. The positive for the Rebels is that the committee has not left out a 13-win SEC team that finished the season with an RPI in the top 29 since the expansion of the conference. Ole Miss holds the No. 2 most difficult schedule in the nation. 

So in a nutshell, Ole Miss needs to win two games, pushing their league total to 13, and then hope the NCAA committee smiles on head coach Mike Bianco and the team. 

SEC Tournament 

As for the SEC Tournament, The Rebels have not yet “clinched” a spot, but they are close. With a “magic number” of one, Ole Miss needs to notch one win over LSU OR have Missouri lose a game this weekend on the road in Starkville. If either of those happens, the Rebels have clinched a spot in the SEC Tournament. 

But, again, they need to win at least two games against the Tigers to reach the 13-win threshold to have a shot at the NCAA Tournament. 

LSU, the defending national champion, holds an RPI of 35. Much like Ole Miss and Mississippi State before them, it’s been tough to come back and defend the title. Both Mississippi State and Ole Miss failed to even reach the SEC tourney the following year after their national championship.

The Tigers are 10-17 in league play and lost a series to Alabama last weekend. They, too, have a magic number of one — needing to win at least one game over the Rebels or have Missouri lose one game to Mississippi State in order to make the conference tourney. 

Again, though, that’s just to reach the SEC tournament in Hoover. 

Getting into the NCAA postseason is a completely different ballgame. 

Ole Miss Notables

• Starting pitching was key in the series win over A&M, with all three Rebel starters combining for 19 strikeouts and just four earned runs over 17 innings of work.
• Riley Maddox and Liam Doyle put together back-to-back quality starts, giving up two or less earned runs while each working six innings. Mason Nichols was one inning shy of what would have been three quality starts on the weekend.
• Freshman Wes Mendes made two outings against the Aggies, striking out eight over four innings and earning the win on Friday night.
• Overall, Rebel pitching limited one of the top offenses in the country to just 10 earned runs on the weekend, six of them coming on Sunday.
• Ole Miss has now 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.
• Andrew Fischer became just the fourth Rebel in program history to hit 20 home runs in a season on Tuesday night against Southern Miss.
• Luke Hill is hitting .403 (25-62), with 13 runs scored, nine RBI, seven walks, and an OPS of .972 over his last 16 games.
• Jackson Ross leads the SEC and is fifth in the NCAA in walks with 53. His 53 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 21st in the nation in strikeouts per nine, averaging 10.2 punchouts per game.
• Ole Miss is also 19th in the NCAA in walks drawn (287), averaging 5.57 per game.

Scouting the Tigers

• The Tigers have won three of their last four SEC series and 11 of their past 16 games overall … LSU currently is No. 35 in the official NCAA RPI rankings.

• LSU is No. 5 in the SEC in team ERA (4.45), and the Tigers have recorded the second-highest total of strikeouts in the league with 583 Ks in 458.2 innings pitched … LSU is No. 8 in the league in team batting average (.282), and the Tigers’ total of 91 home runs is fifth-best in the conference.

• Right-hander Luke Holman worked 5.2 innings Saturday to earn his seventh win over the season, as the Tigers posted a 6-3 victory over Alabama in Sewell-Thomas Stadium … Holman, who pitched at Alabama for two seasons (2022-23) before transferring to LSU last summer, limited the Crimson Tide to two runs on four hits in 5.2 innings with four walks and two strikeouts … Holman is 7-3 this season with a 2.74 ERA and 100 strikeouts in 72.1 innings … he is limiting opponents to a .176 cumulative batting average.

• LSU third baseman Tommy White hit .385 (5-for-13) in the Alabama series with three doubles, one homer and five RBI … first baseman Jared Jones was 4-for-10 in the series with two doubles, one homer and two RBI … second baseman Steven Milam was 4-for-11 in the series with one homer, two RBI and two runs scored … Milam hit .385 (5-for-13) for the entire four-game week with one double, one homer, two RBI and three runs scored … centerfielder Paxton Kling batted .375 (3-for-8) in four games last week with one RBI, one run, a sacrifice bunt, two walks, three hit-by-pitches and a .615 on-base percentage.

• Sophomore right-hander Gavin Guidry earned a win and a save for the Tigers last week … he was the winning pitcher on Tuesday versus Northwestern State, working a career-long 4.0 scoreless innings while allowing one hit with no walks and a career-high seven strikeouts … Guidry picked up a save on Saturday at Alabama, pitching the final 2.0 innings and allowing no runs on no hits with one walk and one strikeout … for the week, Guidry worked 6.0 scoreless innings over two appearances with one hit, one walk and eight strikeouts.

• Relievers Justin Loer and Fidel Ulloa pitched effectively on Sunday at Alabama … Loer, a junior left-hander, pitched 2.0 scoreless innings, allowing no hits and no walks with one strikeout … Ulloa, a junior right-hander, also worked 2.0 scoreless innings, allowing one hit with one walk and one strikeout.

Series Info

Ole Miss and LSU face off in a Thursday-Saturday series at Alex Box Stadium in Baton Rouge. NOTE: Game one has been moved up from 6:00 p.m to 4:00 p.m. because of weather. 

DATES/TIMES

Thursday, May 16 @ 4 p.m. CT (SEC Network)

Friday, May 17 @ 6:30 p.m. CT (SEC Network +)

Saturday, May 18 @ 1 p.m. CT (SEC Network +)