Mississippi”s Chris Ellis releases a pitch during an NCAA college baseball game against Georgia State in Oxford, Miss., Friday, Feb. 21, 2014. Ellis pitched a complete game shutout. (DM Photo/Alex Edwards)
The No. 12 Ole Miss baseball team will travel to Lexington, Kent., this weekend to face the No. 17 Kentucky Wildcats in a pivotal Southeastern Conference series this weekend.
The Rebels (30-12, 10-8 SEC) are coming off an 8-3 loss against Mississippi State on Tuesday and last weekend’s series loss to LSU while the Wildcats (27-14, 9-9 SEC) enter the series after defeating Tennessee Tech in a midweek matchup and winning last weekend’s SEC series against Texas A&M.
Junior right-hander Chris Ellis will get things started on the mound for Ole Miss tonight. Ellis remains unbeaten this season, compiling a 5-0 record in ten starts with just a 1.72 ERA. Opposing teams have failed to score in five of Ellis’ ten starts.
Kentucky will send junior lefty A.J. Reed to the mound to try to counter. Reed is 7-1 in ten starts and holds a 2.15 ERA. In 71 innings of work, he has given up just 62 hits and 18 walks. Reed has 46 strikeouts on the season.
Redshirt sophomore lefty Christian Trent will take the hill Saturday for the Rebels. Trent is 5-0 this season and holds a 2.18 ERA. In 66 innings pitched, he has the SEC eighth-best strikeout total of 54.
Sophomore left-hander Dylan Dwyer will get the Saturday start for the Wildcats. Dwyer has posted a 5-1 record this season with a 3.40 ERA. Dwyer will make only his fourth SEC start against the Rebels.
Ole Miss will send junior right-hander Sam Smith to the mound to close things out on Sunday. Smith is 5-3 this season in ten starts with a 2.32 ERA.
Junior right-hander Andrew Nelson will take the hill for Kentucky on Sunday. Nelson will look to earn just his second win of the season, as he currently has a 1-4 record. He has a 4.44 ERA on the season.
At the plate for Ole Miss, senior catcher Will Allen and junior center fielder Auston Bousfield will look to keep up their hot bats as the two lead the team in multi-hit games this season. Major power threat and junior first baseman Sikes Orvis will look to add to his SEC second-best home run total of nine, while Allen looks to drive more runs across the plate to add to his SEC second-best 42 RBI.
Rebel pitchers will have to tame the SEC’s best offensive player Reed, who will also be Kentucky’s starting Fridaypitcher. He is hitting .375 on the season with SEC-leading 16 home runs and 55 RBI. As a team, the Wildcats have the SEC’s highest batting average at .312 and home runs at 39.
First pitch between the Rebels and Wildcats is set for 6:30 p.m tonight, while both Saturday and Sunday’s matchups will start at noon. Saturday’s matchup will be televised by CSS.
