No. 23 Ole Miss Baseball Opens Road Stretch at No. 21 Oklahoma

OXFORD, Miss. – (Release) No. 23 Ole Miss Baseball opens a six-game road stretch this weekend with a three-game set against No. 21 Oklahoma in Norman. First pitch on Friday is set for 6:30 p.m. with Saturday set for 4 p.m. and Sunday set for 2 p.m.

OLE MISS NOTES | OKLAHOMA NOTES | SEC NOTES

LEADING OFF

• Ole Miss has won five of their last six games after defeating Austin Peay 6-3 on Tuesday.
• The Rebels have now won 30+ games for the first time since 2022 and for the 21^st time under head coach Mike Bianco.
• Their four SEC series wins are the most they have won in a season since 2022, matching their combined total from the past two seasons.
• This weekend marks the first time the Rebels and the Sooners have faced off since the 2022 College World Series Finals. Ole Miss defeated Oklahoma in two games to win the 2022 National Championship.
• The Rebels have not played in Norman since 1994 when they split a two-game set.
• Ole Miss is ranked in all five polls this week coming in at No. 23 in the D1Baseball poll, No. 12 in the NCBWA poll, No. 13 in the Baseball America poll, No. 16 in the Perfect Game poll, and No. 18 in the USA Today/Coaches poll.
• Luke Hill is currently riding a 29-game on base streak, reaching base in every game since the beginning of conference play.
• Hill is top-10 in the SEC in walks (37), walks per game (0.84), hits (59), runs scored (52), and runs per game (1.18).
• Austin Fawley has hit a home run in seven of his last 11 games. He has now hit more home runs than any other catcher in the Mike Bianco Era.
• Hudson Calhoun has struck out 11 of the last 17 batters he has faced.
• The Rebels are ranked second in the SEC in total walks drawn as a team with 265 free passes so far this season.
• The Rebels have stolen 62 bases in 2025, their highest total since 2019.
• Hayden Federico is one stolen base shy of tying the Ole Miss freshman single-season record of 12 set by Jordan Henry in 2007.
• Ole Miss has hit 86 home runs this season, seventh-most in the NCAA and fourth-most in the SEC. They are seventh in the nation in home runs per game, averaging 1.91 home runs per game.
• Ole Miss’ pitching staff is ranked seventh in the NCAA in K/9 (11.3) and 10th in K:BB at 2.85.

PROJECTED PITCHING MATCHUPS

Game 1: LHP Hunter Elliott (6-2, 3.83 ERA) vs. RHP Kyson Witherspoon (8-2, 2.35 ERA)

Game 2: RHP Riley Maddox (5-3, 5.26 ERA) vs. LHP Cade Crossland (3-3, 6.55 ERA)

Game 3: RHP Mason Nichols (3-1, 5.40 ERA) vs. RHP Malachi Witherspoon (3-5, 4.89 ERA)

BROADCAST INFORMATION

All three games will be streamed live on SEC Network+ with Chad McKee (PxP) and Blake Brewster (analyst) on the call Friday and Toby Rowland (PxP) and Kendall Pettis (analyst) on the call Saturday and Sunday.

Fans can listen to all games, home and away, on the Ole Miss Radio Network with David Kellum (PxP) and Brad Henderson (analyst) on the call.

BIG BAT BEHIND THE PLATE

With his solo home run on Tuesday, catcher Austin Fawley has hit 13 home runs on the season, the most home runs by a catcher in the Mike Bianco Era, passing Calvin Harris (2023) and Justin Brashear (2006) who each hit 12.

Fawley has hit seven home runs over his last 11 games and is now tied with Judd Utermark for the team lead. The sophomore also leads the team in OPS (1.063) and slugging percentage (.664).

IT JUST MEANS MORE

Ole Miss’ offense comes into the weekend ranked in the top three in most offensive categories during SEC play. They are ranked second in hits (201) and walks (105) and are ranked third in batting average (.276), slugging percentage (.503), on base percentage (.381), home runs (41), and total bases (366).

The Rebels have also scored the fourth-most runs during conference games with 148.

SWIPE!

Ole Miss has stolen 62 bases so far in 2025, already reaching their highest season total since 2019 when they stole 93 bases. The Rebels have only reached the 50 steals mark once in the previous five seasons (2024, 50).

The Rebels stole eight bases in their win over Tennessee, three shy of the single-game record of 11 set in 1966. Hayden Federico stole four bases in the game, one shy of the individual single-game record. Luke Hill leads the team with 15 swipes while Federico and Mitchell Sanford each have 11.

Federico is one steal shy of tying the Ole Miss single-season freshman record of 12 set by Jordan Henry in 2007.

SO HOT RIGHT NOW

Luke Hill is currently riding a 29-game on base streak, reaching base in every game since the beginning of conference play. He has reached base in all but two of his 44 games played this season.

Austin Fawley has hit seven home runs in his last 11 games played. During that stretch, Fawley has racked up 16 RBI and scored nine runs to go with his seven home runs.

WE’LL TAKE IT

The Rebels are ranked second in the SEC in walks drawn with 265 total walks on the season. That number is the 12^th highest in the NCAA.

Luke Hill leads the team with 37 walks, Will Furniss has 30, and Hayden Federico has 28. Hill and Federico have more walks than strikeouts at the plate.

Ole Miss drew 18 walks on April 1 against Jackson State, one shy of the program record set last season against High Point.

WASTE NO TIME

The Rebels are outscoring opponents 60-22 in the first inning and 93-48 over the first two innings of games this season, jumping on opponents early. They are 19-4 when scoring in the first inning and 25-3 when they score the first run of a game.

NEVER SAFE

The Rebel pitching staff has picked off 17 runners this season, their highest total since 2002. They lead the SEC in total pickoffs by a wide margin with the next highest total being 10. Hunter Elliott leads the team with eight pickoffs, the most by a Rebel pitcher in the Bianco Era.

POWER SURGE

Judd Utermark and Austin Fawley have each hit home runs in four consecutive games this season. Utermark accomplished the feat first, hitting five home runs in four games from February 28 to March 5. Fawley later matched with four home runs in four games from April 11 to April 17. They join Andrew Fischer, Logan Power, and Michael Rosamond as the only Rebels to hit a home run in four-straight games since 1997.

OFFENSIVE EXPLOSION

The Rebels set new program records for runs scored and RBI in a single game in their 29-1 win over Alcorn State on April 9. Their 29 runs scored took down a program record that had stood since 1989 when Ole Miss defeated Illinois College 28-0.

The previous single-game RBI record was 25 which had been accomplished three times and as recently as last season against High Point. The Rebels collected 27 RBI in the win over Alcorn to set a new record.

The Ole Miss offense also had 44 total bases which was just two shy of the single-game program record and 23 hits which was four short of the program record.

NOT JUST YOUR SUNDAY STARTER

Mason Nichols has been recognized by the NCAA, the SEC, and the University of Mississippi recently for his achievements in the classroom. He was one of 90 Ole Miss students to be awarded the 2025 Taylor Medal, the highest academic honor awarded by the university.

The senior was also named one of the two recipients of the NCAA’s Walter Byers Graduate Scholarship, one of the highest academic honors awarded by the NCAA, and was named the male winner of the 2024-25 SEC H. Boyd McWhorter Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award.

Nichols has been a mainstay in the Rebels’ starting rotation this season, making a start in every weekend series so far. In 11 starts, he has posted a record of 3-1 while striking out 44 batters over 41.2 innings of work. On March 2, in a start against Wright State Nichols struck out a career-high 10 hitters and is one of only two Rebel pitchers to reach double-digit strikeouts in a game this season.

Nichols will graduate with a degree in biological sciences in May. A three-year team representative on Ole Miss’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, Nichols’ community involvement has included volunteering at events for individuals with special needs, church activities for the elderly and team projects to give back to low-income families.