No. 9 Ole Miss Baseball Takes On Jackson State Tuesday at Swayze Field
OXFORD, Miss. – (Release) No. 9 Ole Miss Baseball, winners of six of their last seven, will host Jackson State tomorrow at Swayze Field to open the month of April. First pitch is set for 4 p.m.
OLE MISS NOTES | JACKSON STATE NOTES
LEADING OFF
- Ole Miss won their second-consecutive SEC series last weekend, taking two out of three games from Florida in Oxford.
- Will Furniss hit .500 in the three games against the Gators with three doubles and eight RBI.
- Landon Waters made three appearances out of the bullpen last week, working 3.1 hitless innings while striking out five and allowing just one baserunner.
- Ole Miss is now 6-3 in conference play, its best start since the 2021 season when it started 7-2.
- Ole Miss was ranked in all five polls this week coming in at No. 9 in the D1Baseball poll, No. 10 in both the USA Today and Baseball America polls, No. 13 in the NCBWA poll, and No. 16 in the Perfect Game poll.
- Mitchell Sanford is hitting .435 with 6 home runs, 16 runs scored, and 16 RBI over his last 11 games.
- Ole Miss is tied with Florida State for eighth in the NCAA in total home runs, hitting 55 long balls so far this season. They are seventh in the nation in home runs per game, averaging 2.04 home runs per game.
- The Rebels are now ranked 14th in the NCAA and fifth in the SEC in slugging percentage at .550.
- They are also ranked 15th in the NCAA and fifth in the SEC in total walks drawn at 171.
- Ole Miss’ pitching staff is ranked sixth in the NCAA and fifth in the SEC in strikeouts per nine innings, owning a 12.1 K/9.
PROJECTED PITCHING MATCHUP
LHP Gunnar Dennis (1-1, 7.00 ERA) vs. TBA
BROADCAST INFORMATION
Tuesday’s game will be broadcast on SEC Network+ with Jake Hromada (PxP) and Matt McLaughlin (analyst) on the call.
Fans can also listen to the game on the Ole Miss Radio Network with David Kellum (PxP) and Brad Henderson (analyst) on the call.
SCOUTING REPORT
Omar Johnson is in his 19th season at the helm of the Jackson State baseball program and holds an overall record of 287-142.
Last season, the Tigers earned a 36-20 (16-12 SWAC) season record and advanced to the SWAC Championship game where they ultimately fell to Grambling State 6-5 to conclude their 2024 campaign.
Jackson State currently holds a 16-10 (4-5 SWAC) season record and are coming off a 6-4 win on Sunday over Grambling State to secure the series.
Ole Miss leads the all-time series over JSU, 8-0. The last meeting between the two foes was March 3, 2021 where Ole Miss beat Jackson State 12-1 in seven innings in Oxford. The Rebels will welcome the Tigers to Swayze for a midweek matchup on Tuesday evening.
HOT BAT
Since the beginning of conference play, Mitchell Sanford is hitting .435 (20-for-46) over his last 11 games with six home runs, 16 runs scored, and 16 RBI. The senior has seven multi-hit games and 14 extra-base hits during that stretch.
Sanford now leads the Rebels in batting average, slugging percentage, runs scored, and total bases. His .718 slugging percentage is the 12th highest in the SEC.
REBEL NATION STAND UP
Ole Miss currently sports the fourth-highest attendance numbers in the NCAA, averaging 9,249 fans through the first 19 home games of the season. 175,748 total fans have already walked through the gates at Swayze Field through the first two months of the season.
SEC schools make up nine of the top 10 in attendance numbers with LSU, Arkansas, Mississippi State, and Ole Miss making up the top four.
WE’LL TAKE IT
Over their last two SEC series, the Rebels have worked 46 walks and been hit by pitches 11 times for 57 total free passes in six games.
They worked seven or more walks in all three games against Missouri and a season-high 13 in game one against Florida. The Rebels now have a .444 on base percentage in conference games, trailing only Georgia (.452) and 35 points higher than the next-highest team (Arkansas, .409). Ole Miss’ 171 walks are top-15 in the NCAA and fifth in the SEC.
WASTE NO TIME
The Rebels are outscoring opponents 35-13 in the first inning and 60-25 over the first two innings of games this season, jumping on opponents early. They are 13-2 when scoring in the first inning and 18-1 when they score the first run of a game.
NEVER SAFE
The Rebel pitching staff has picked off 11 runners this season, surpassing its totals from each of the last two seasons already. Hunter Elliott leads the team with seven pickoffs, Riley Maddox has two, and Mason Nichols and Walker Hooks each have one.
IN A PINCH
Will Furniss has made the most of his pinch-hitting opportunities, hitting .600 (3-for-5) in those situations.
He went 3-for-3 in pinch hit opportunities in the series against Missouri, hitting a three-RBI home run on Saturday and a double on Sunday.
HUMP WEEK
Isaac Humphrey was named the SEC Player of the Week and the NCBWA Dick Howser Trophy Player of the Week after his huge weekend in Missouri.
Humphrey hit .389 (7-for-18) with four home runs, 13 RBI, and 21 total bases in four total games, including the Rebels’ midweek matchup with Southern Miss.
The senior went 1-for-3 with a double in Pearl before really heating up in Columbia. Humphrey hit .400 (6-for-15) with four home runs, 13 RBI, and 19 total bases as Ole Miss swept Missouri for their first conference sweep since 2022.
He came into the series with three total home runs on the season and more than doubled his total with four long balls in three games. He launched two home runs in the series-clinching win on Saturday for the first multi-home run game of his career.
Humphrey drove in 13 of the Rebels’ 40 runs scored in the series, a whopping 32.5 percent of the scoring.
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. Email Evie at: Evie@TheRebelWalk.com
