Mississippi pitcher Evan Anderson prepares to throw the ball in a game earlier this season. (File Photo)
After taking two out of three games at Swayze against Florida last weekend, the Rebels followed that up by dropping a double-header against UAB at home last Tuesday. The Rebels then headed to Fayetteville to take on Arkansas and dropped two out of three games. The loss in the Saturday rubber match dropped the Rebels to 14-14 overall (4-5 SEC).
Despite the poor performance over the last week, catchers Austin Knight and Henri Lartigue carried the bats for the Rebels, as the tandem combined to hit a .444 average. In the Arkansas series, freshman infielder Kyle Watson was the first baserunner in all three games. Sophomore right-hander Brady Bramlett continues his hot start as he is tied for fifth in the SEC with a 1.79 ERA. Junior outfielder Cameron Dishon is fifth in the SEC with 12 steals.
Ole Miss has played the nation’s hardest schedule so far this season as the opponents’ win percentage totals .660.
One weakness for the Rebels this season has been getting midweek victories to carry momentum into a weekend series against an SEC opponent. They couldn’t do it last Tuesday against UAB, and they’ll look to turn their struggles around against Memphis at AutoZone Park.
The game tonight is the first in a home-and-home series against the Memphis Tigers, as they’ll play once again at Swayze Field on April 22. Ole Miss holds a 20-8 record against Memphis under head coach Mike Bianco and begins a stretch of playing eight of its next nine games against teams from the state of Tennessee.
Sophomore left-hander Evan Anderson will once again get the midweek start for the Rebels. This will be the eighth pitching appearance for Anderson this season and his fifth midweek start. Anderson has struggled in his role as the midweek starter so far, holding a 1-3 record with a 6.43 ERA. In his last start for the Rebels, Anderson struggled in the second game of the doubleheader against UAB, surrendering three runs on six hits and three walks over 3.2 innings of work in the loss.
The Memphis Tigers enters tonights game with an impressive 17-6 overall record after winning two-of-three games against Houston to begin conference play in the American Athletic Conference. The Tigers also split a pair of midweek games against Arkansas last week. Both pitching and hitting have been impressive for the Tigers as the pitching staff owns a team ERA of 2.45 and has outscored their opponents by a combined 127-66 so far this season.
Senior left-hander Alex Gunn will get the start for the Tigers against Ole Miss. After sitting out the entire 2014 campaign due to injury, Gunn has returned to the pitching staff and has pitched well so far, owning a 2-0 record and adding on an impressive 1.00 ERA over 18 innings of work. Opponents are only hitting for a .190 average against Gunn.
The Tiger offense has also been potent with four players hitting over .300. The offense for Memphis is led by the play of senior outfielder Kane Barrow. Barrow is hitting a .356 average so far this season. The power bat of the lineup for the Tigers comes from senior infielder Tucker Tubbs who leads the team in doubles with nine, home runs with three and RBIs with 24.
There should be no panic from fans yet, as the Rebels have played the nations’ toughest schedule. The 2006 Rebels started the season 13-11 overall and 1-5 in SEC play. That team ended up finishing the season with a 44-22 overall record and won the SEC Tournament and almost made the College World Series in Omaha. Now is not the time to panic and a win against Memphis would be a momentum builder the Rebs need.
