Ole Miss Baseball Wraps Up Regular Season Against No. 6 Auburn

OXFORD, Miss. – (Release) Ole Miss baseball wraps up the regular season this weekend as they host No. 6 Auburn for a three-game series. First pitch on Thursday is set for 6:30 p.m. while Friday is set for 7 p.m. and Saturday will begin at 1:30 p.m.

OLE MISS NOTES | AUBURN NOTES

LEADING OFF

• Ole Miss hit four home runs in a 11-5 win over UT Martin Tuesday night in their final midweek game of the season.
• Will Furniss set a new single-game record for walks in last Saturday’s finale, drawing five walks in the game.
• The Rebels have 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.
• Ole Miss is one of five Division I teams with 13 or more Quad 1 wins this season.
• Ole Miss is ranked in just two polls this week coming in at No. 22 in the Baseball America poll and No. 25 in the USA Today/Coaches poll.
• Luke Hill is currently riding a 36-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), hits (67), on base percentage (.470), and runs scored (54).
• Hill’s 17 stolen bases are the most by a Rebel since Anthony Servideo stole 24 in 2019.
• Austin Fawley has hit a home run in 10 of his last 17 games. He has now hit more home runs than any other catcher in the Mike Bianco Era.
• Hudson Calhoun has struck out 15 of the last 28 batters he has faced for a 53.6% K rate over his last six appearances.
• The Rebels are ranked second in the SEC in total walks drawn as a team with 291 free passes so far this season.
• The Rebels have stolen 67 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 97 home runs this season, seventh in the NCAA and fourth-most in the SEC. They are ninth in the nation in home runs per game, averaging 1.87 home runs per game.
• The Rebels are just three home runs away from reaching the 100-home run mark for just the second time in program history.

PROJECTED PITCHING MATCHUPS

Game 1: LHP Hunter Elliott (7-3, 3.66 ERA) vs. RHP Cam Tilly (3-1, 4.38 ERA)

Game 2: RHP Riley Maddox (5-5, 5.46 ERA) vs. RHP Samuel Dutton (6-2, 2.86 ERA)

Game 3: RHP Mason Nichols (3-2, 5.36 ERA) vs. RHP Christian Chatterton (4-1, 4.10 ERA)

BROADCAST INFORMATION

Thursday and Saturday’s games will be live streamed on SEC Network+ with Jake Hromada (PxP) and Keith Kessinger (analyst) on the call. Friday’s game will be broadcast on SEC Network

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

Austin Fawley hit another home run last weekend against Mississippi State, bringing his season total 16. 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.

He leads the SEC and is fourth in the NCAA in home runs per game (0.41).

Fawley has hit 10 home runs over his last 17 games and leads the team in OPS (1.048) and slugging percentage (.664). He is hitting .287 with 10 home runs and 28 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 36-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 51 games played this season. His 36-game streak is the eighth-longest by a Rebel since 1997.

Hunter Elliott has allowed just five earned runs and only eight hits over his last three starts, working 17.1 innings and striking out 20 batters during that stretch. He worked a season-high 6.2 innings in his start against Oklahoma.

Will McCausland has posted a 1.93 ERA over his last six appearances, allowing just two runs over 9.1 innings of work. He has nine strikeouts during that stretch.

SWIPE!

Ole Miss has stolen 67 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 17 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 297 total walks on the season. That number is the 15^th highest in the NCAA.

Luke Hill leads the team with 39 walks, Will Furniss has 38, and Isaac Humphrey and Mitchell Sanford each have 31. Hill is the only Rebel with more walks than strikeouts.

Ole Miss drew 18 walks on April 1 against Jackson State, one shy of the program record set last season against High Point. Furniss set a new single-game record for walks in the Saturday finale of the Mississippi State series, drawing five walks in the game.

WASTING NO TIME

The Rebels are outscoring opponents 63-27 in the first inning and 103-55 over the first two innings of games this season, jumping on opponents early. They are 21-4 when scoring in the first inning and 27-3 when they score the first run of a game.

NEVER SAFE

The Rebels have picked off 20 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 nine 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 12 starts, he has posted a record of 3-1 while striking out 45 batters over 43.1 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.