Mississippi pitcher Evan Anderson prepares to throw the ball in a game earlier this season. (File Photo)
After a disappointing midweek loss to Southern Miss Tuesday, Ole Miss will travel to Nashville to take on the defending national champions, the Vanderbilt Commodores, tonight.
In the first game of the 2015 Mississippi College Series, Ole Miss lost a close game to Southern Miss 6-5 Tuesday night as a result of poor pitching. Ole Miss dropped to 16-17 overall on the season with the loss.
Eight different Rebels recorded a hit on the night, led by junior outfielder Connor Cloyd, who had a creed-high three hits against the Golden Eagles. Floyd went 3-for-5 with two runs to collect his third-straight multi-hit game.
Pitching struggled once again for the Rebels, and finding a consistent midweek starter still haunts the team. Sophomore left-hander Evan Anderson only lasted 1.1 innings, giving up three runs (two earned) on seven hits. The entire pitching staff struggled as Southern Miss totaled 13 hits and scored six runs to top the Rebels.
The offense for Ole Miss has been in a groove lately; however, the pitching staff has continued to struggle, and the team is paying for it, dropping to under .500 for the first time this season. Pitching will be a key factor for the Rebels as they face Vanderbilt on the road for a three-game series starting tonight.
Vanderbilt owns a 27-7 overall record and stands alone atop of the SEC with a 10-2 record in conference play and has sole possession of first in the SEC East. Vanderbilt’s resume is impressive with three-game sweeps over Arkansas and Georgia and wins of two out of three games against Auburn and Tennessee.
Coming in at No. 1 in the country, Vanderbilt will be the third top-ranked team the Rebels will face this season. Ole Miss is 3-3 against the nation’s top-ranked team in 2015 and has played 11 games against top-15 opponents this season, going 5-6 in those games. Ole Miss is 21-17 all-time against Vanderbilt under head coach Mike Bianco.
Vanderbilt saw their six-game win streak come to an end Tuesday evening in a 3-1 nonconference loss to Lipscomb. The pitching staff is what makes Vanderbilt the top-ranked team in the country, as the pitching staff holds opposing hitters to a .215 average, which leads the SEC. The starting weekend rotation for the Commodores makes the staff elite. Right-handers Carson Fulmer, Walker Bueller and Jordan Sheffield hold a combined record of 11-1.
The offense isn’t too shabby either for Vanderbilt. There are four Commodores that are hitting over a .340 average led by junior infielder Dansby Swanson, who bats .368 on the season. Swanson also leads Vanderbilt with a team-high 12 steals; Vanderbilt leads the SEC with 56 steals total. Redshirt junior infielder Zander Wiel and junior outfielder Rhett Wiseman both have six home runs and nine doubles on the season.
The Rebels have found their top two starters in the weekend rotation in junior left-hander Christian Trent and sophomore right-hander Brady Bramlett. The third starter has been a question mark most of the season, but freshman right-hander Will Stokes has taken over that spot. Stokes’ first three starts came in the last three SEC series finales for the Rebels, where he is 0-3 with a 5.40 ERA. Stokes pitched a career-high 5.2 innings in his last start against Tennessee allowing just two runs on four hits.
