Mississippi pitcher Scott Weathersby pitches in the game, Sunday, February 20, 2015. (DM Photo | Payton Teffner)
The Ole Miss Rebels return to action Wednesday against the University of Tennessee-Martin Skyhawks.
Ole Miss is coming off a road series win against top-ranked Vanderbilt and will look to keep the momentum going with a win on Wednesday before they head to Auburn for a second-straight road SEC weekend series.
Ole Miss will look to change their luck Wednesday as they have struggled in midweek games, posting a record of 4-5 in those games. The Rebels are coming off of a 6-5 loss in their last midweek game against Southern Miss at Trustmark Park in Pearl Mississippi.
UT-Martin comes into the game with a record of 10-23 and 5-13 in the Ohio Valley Conference. The Skyhawks have struggled this season and are coming off of a weekend series in which they were swept at home by Moorhead State. The Rebels are 6-0 all-time against the Skyhawks under the tenure of head coach Mike Bianco. The game Wednesday wraps up a stretch for the Rebels of playing eight-of-nine games against teams from the state of Tennessee. The two teams faced off last season, where the Rebels took the victory 6-0.
Senior right-hander Sam Smith will take the ball for Ole Miss. Smith, a former weekend starter, comes into the game with a 1-4 record with a 6.82 ERA. He has struggled at times this year but has faired better in the one midweek start he has made,earning a win against 12th ranked Louisville earlier this year. He will start in place of usual midweek starter, junior left hander Evan Anderson. Smith is coming off of a solid outing in which he pitched two scoreless innings of relief against top ranked Vanderbilt last Saturday.
Senior right-hander Scott Weathersby was named the SEC Co-Pitcher of the Week which was announced Monday April 13th. The senior earned the accolade for the first time in his career after his brilliant performance against Vanderbilt where he led the Ole Miss bullpen to 15.2 scoreless innings over the weekend.
The Skyhawks will be led offensively by senior outfielder Taylor Douglas. Douglas comes into the game with 6 home runs, 26 RBI and 46 hits on the year, leading the team in all three categories. Douglas also pitches for the Skyhawks and would make a relief appearance. Another key player for UT-Martin is junior outfielder Andrew Castillo. Castillo is a constant scoring threat with 24 runs scored runs and knocked in 22 runs this season at the plate.
Pitching for the Skyhawks will be redshirt-junior right-hander Jackson Zarubin. Zarubin owns a 0-1 record with a 2.45 ERA in five appearances for the 2015 season. The right-hander made a relief appearance against the Rebels last season where he pitched 1.2 innings before his season ended early with an injury.
Ole Miss will look to continue its recent offensive success where they came up with timely hits with runners in scoring position that led to the series win over the top-ranked Commodores.
The Skyhawks have struggled this year and this is a game Ole Miss needs to win. The Rebels have had a couple of bad losses in midweek games that have hurt their RPI and can hardly afford to lose another.
First pitch has been moved up to 3 p.m. due to predicted inclement weather.
