No. 24 Ole Miss Baseball Clashes With Mississippi State In Starkville

OXFORD, Miss. – No. 24 Ole Miss Baseball heads south to Starkville this weekend for the annual rivalry series with Mississippi State. First pitch on Friday night is set for 7:30 p.m. while Saturday is set for 2 p.m. and Sunday is set for 1 p.m.

UPDATE: Due to expected inclement weather, No. 24 Ole Miss and Mississippi State will now play a doubleheader to open the series on Friday. Game one is set for 4 p.m. CT and game two will start 40 minutes after the conclusion of the first game. Game one will be broadcast on SEC Network+ while game two will still be on SEC Network.

LEADING OFF

• Ole Miss dropped a road series to Oklahoma last weekend, winning just the third game of the series after dropping the first two.
• The Rebels have now won 30+ games for the first time since 2022 and for the 21st 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.
• The Rebels have now won all four road finales during SEC play and are undefeated in the third game of the weekend away from home when including the opening weekend in Arlington.
• Ole Miss is one of six Division I teams with 12 or more Quad 1 wins this season so far.
• Ole Miss is ranked in all five polls this week coming in at No. 24 in the D1Baseball poll, No. 15 in the NCBWA poll, No. 18 in the Baseball America poll, No. 20 in the Perfect Game poll, and No. 22 in the USA Today/Coaches poll.
• Luke Hill is currently riding a 32-game on base streak, reaching base in every game since the beginning of conference play.
• Hill is top-10 in the SEC in walks (39), walks per game (0.83), hits (62), runs scored (52), and runs per game (1.11).
• Austin Fawley has hit a home run in nine of his last 14 games. He has now hit more home runs than any other catcher in the Mike Bianco Era.
• Hudson Calhoun has struck out 12 of the last 22 batters he has faced.
• The Rebels are ranked second in the SEC in total walks drawn as a team with 273 free passes so far this season.
• The Rebels have stolen 63 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 88 home runs this season, top 10 in the NCAA and fourth-most in the SEC. They are 10th in the nation in home runs per game, averaging 1.83 home runs per game.
• Ole Miss’ pitching staff is ranked eighth in the NCAA in K/9 (11.2) and 15th in K:BB at 2.76.

PROJECTED PITCHING MATCHUPS
Game 1: LHP Hunter Elliott (6-3, 3.71 ERA) vs. LHP Pico Kohn (5-2, 3.90 ERA)
Game 2: RHP Riley Maddox (5-4, 5.80 ERA) vs. RHP Evan Siary (1-1, 4.95 ERA)
Game 3: RHP Mason Nichols (3-1, 5.40 ERA) vs. RHP Karson Ligon (4-5, 6.75 ERA)

BROADCAST INFORMATION
Friday’s game will be broadcast live on SEC Network with Derek Jones (PxP) and Lance Cormier (analyst) on the call. Saturday and Sunday’s games will be streamed live on SEC Network+ with Bart Gregory (PxP) and Charlie Winfield (analyst) on the call.

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.

SCOUTING REPORT
Mississippi State is currently 29-19 overall and 10-14 in SEC play. The Bulldogs are coming off a series sweep over Kentucky where the Bulldogs outscored the Cats 26-10 throughout the three game weekend series.

The Rebels won the series last year in Oxford in a wild three games. They were shut out in the first game, won in 12 innings in game two, and run ruled the Bulldogs in the rubber match on Sunday. The two teams played two more times after that in 2024, with the Bulldogs winning the Governor’s Cup game and eliminating the Rebels in the first round of the SEC Tournament.

Ole Miss won the first matchup of 2025 between the two teams, walking off Mississippi State in ten innings in the 2025 Governor’s Cup on April 22.

BIG BAT BEHIND THE PLATE
Austin Fawley hit two more home runs last weekend in Norman, bringing his season total 15. The sophomore has now hit 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 nine home runs over his last 14 games and leads the team in OPS (1.100) and slugging percentage (.696). He is hitting .315 with nine home runs and 25 RBI in SEC play. He was ranked at the No. 10 catcher in the country by D1Baseball in their Week 12 update.

SO HOT RIGHT NOW
Luke Hill is currently riding a 32-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 47 games played this season. His 32-game streak is the eighth-longest by a Rebel since 1997.

He is also on a nine-game hitting streak during which he is hitting .294 (10-for-34) with six runs scored and seven walks.

Hunter Elliott has allowed just three earned runs and only five hits over his last two starts, working 11.2 innings and striking out 13 batters during that stretch. He worked a season-high 6.2 innings last week against Oklahoma.

COMING HOME WITH A WIN
The Rebels have now won all four road finales during SEC play and are undefeated in the third game of the weekend away from home when including the opening weekend in Arlington.

At home, the Rebels are just 3-4 in series finales, including a 0-4 mark in SEC play. Overall, they are 8-4 in game threes and 4-4 in SEC play game threes.

SWIPE!
Ole Miss has stolen 63 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 16 swipes and Mitchell Sanford has 12 and Federico has 11.

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

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 12th 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 60-26 in the first inning and 95-52 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.