Auston Bousfield hits the ball during Wednesday’s baseball game in Oxford. Photo: Thomas Graning, The Daily Mississippian.
The No. 14 Ole Miss baseball team will host its first Southeastern Conference series of the season this weekend when the Missouri Tigers come to town.
The Rebels (18-4, 1-2 SEC) are coming off a 4-3 win over Arkansas State on Wednesday, while the Tigers (11-9, 1-2 SEC) enter the series on a two-game win streak after topping Milwaukee in a two-game midweek matchup.
Junior right-hander Chris Ellis will get things started on the mound for Ole Miss tonight. Ellis has gotten off to a hot start this season, compiling a 3-0 record in five starts with just a 0.82 ERA. Opposing teams have only scored five runs on Ellis through 33 innings of work.
Missouri will send junior right-hander Brett Graves to the mound to try to counter. Graves is 3-1 in five starts and holds a 1.30 ERA. In 34.2 innings of work, he has given up just six runs and struck out 27.
Redshirt sophomore lefty Christian Trent will take the hill Saturday for the Rebels. Trent is 2-0 in his first five starts this season and holds a 3.48 ERA. In 31 innings pitched, he has a team-high 30 strikeouts.
Junior right-hander John Miles will get the Saturday start for the Tigers. Miles has posted a 2-1 record this season with a 5.76 ERA. Through 25.0 innings pitched, his opponents are hitting at a .314 clip against him.
Ole Miss will send junior right-hander Sam Smith to the mound to close things out on Sunday. Smith is 3-1 this season in five starts with a 1.84 ERA.
Senior right-hander Eric Anderson will take the bump for Mizzou on Sunday. Anderson will look to earn his first win of the season, as he currently has a 0-2 record. He has recorded 13 strikeouts in 13.0 innings of work.
At the plate for Ole Miss, junior Auston Bousfield continues to stay hot. He is hitting .387 and leads the team with 36 hits, two triples and he is tied for the team lead in home runs with three. Bousfield has also knocked in 17 runs, which ranks him second on the team.
Senior Will Allen is another Rebel on a roll. He currently holds a .360 average and leads the team with 10 doubles and 27 RBIs. He is tied with Bousfield with three home runs.
For the Tigers, senior Kendall Keeton will pace the offense. He leads Missouri with a .351 average, 27 hits and 29 total bases. Another bat the Rebels will have to keep an eye on is freshman Ryan Howard. Howard is hitting .291, but he leads the Tigers with 12 RBIs and has also hit one home run.
First pitch between the Rebels and Tigers is set for 6:30 p.m tonight.
— Matt Sigler
mcsigler@go.olemiss.edu
