Wyatt Short pitches in a game earlier this season against South Carolina.
Ole Miss has lost back-to-back series and now sit at 21-7 (3-6), and the Rebels have a big week ahead of them in terms of an opportunity to get back on track. It begins tomorrow night against Southern Miss at Trustmark Park in Pearl.
Eighth-year Head Coach Scott Berry and his team come into the game with a record of 22-7 (8-1). The Eagles have won six of their last seven games and are coming off of back-to-back weekend sweeps.
This will be the first of two meetings between the two teams this year as they will meet again on April 13 in Oxford. Ole Miss has not beaten Southern Miss since 2013, and the Golden Eagles hold a 7-3 advantage in neutral site contests while the Rebels lead the all-time series 71-49.
Ole Miss will start its usual midweek starter in freshman right-hander James McArthur. The midweek game against Memphis last week was postponed due to weather, making it two weeks since McArthur’s last start. He possesses a record of 3-0 record with a 5.48 ERA. McArthur has pitched better over the course of the last month after a slow start to begin the season that Mike Bianco said was in part due to a foot injury that limited his ability to practice in the fall and winter. McArthur has won each of his last three starts, including striking out seven in a win over UT-Martin in his last midweek outing.
Southern Miss will start Mason Walley, a junior right-hander with a record of 1-1 with a 4.32 ERA. Walley has one start this year and three appearances out of the bullpen.
Southern Miss is a team that hits well and hits consistently. The Golden Eagles are ninth in the country in team batting average with a team mark of .324. Tim Lynch leads the team offensively with 46 hits and 34 RBIs on the year, and Nick Dawson has the best average on the team as he is hitting .398.
Ole Miss has struggled as of late and yet currently has an RPI of seven despite its struggles. It will have a great chance to get back on track this week with a win on Tuesday and three home games against Arkansas this weekend. This team has dug itself in a little bit of a hole after two weekends, but the season is only 28 games in and there is time, especially in the next three or four weeks. Three of the Rebels’ next four series come at home, and the lone road series is against Alabama.
First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m.
