It will be an early day for Ole Miss baseball on Tuesday when the Rebels host University of Tennessee-Martin at 11 a.m.
The Rebels are coming off of a 4-1 week on the road that started with two midweek wins over UAB and continued with the winning of two games out of three in Knoxville against Tennessee.
Ole Miss will pitch freshmen James McArthur in tomorrow morning’s contest against the Skyhawks.
McArthur is 2-0 with a 6.06 ERA this season in five appearances, in four of which he started. He is coming off of an outing in which he went five innings, allowing a run on five hits in his second win of the year against UAB.
Junior J.B. Woodman hits during the first game of the Louisville series Friday, February 26. (Photo by: Evan Turner)
The Skyhawks will start Jake Patzner Jr. On the mound.
Bianco mentioned earlier in the year that McArthur may have been rushed back a bit earlier in the year from an offseason foot injury, but has since settled in a bit.
Offensively, Ole Miss is coming off of a weekend in which it scored 18 runs against Tennessee, and the bats came to life more in game two and three when it scored six runs and ten runs, respectively.
J.B. Woodman is coming a 5-11 weekend at the plate in which he had 3 RBIs and a home run. Will Golsan had a 3-6 performance on Sunday as well. Ole Miss is hitting .286 as a team and its slugging percentage is .433 through 21 games.
The offense has come and gone this year, but this team relies heavily on its defense and a deep bullpen that keeps them in games when the offense fades.
Ole Miss is 21-30 for stolen bases on the year, a testament to Bianco creating scoring opportunities this year. By comparison, Ole Miss was 52-78 in that department a year ago.
UT-Martin is 7-13 on the season and is coming off of a weekend in which it was swept by Tennessee Tech. The Skyhawks have also yet to announce who will be pitching tomorrow.
UT-Martin is led offensively by Austin Taylor. Taylor is hitting .315 with 14 RBIs on the year. Daniel Kerwin also has 14 RBIs and is hitting .273. The Skyhawks are hitting .286 as a team.
Ole Miss defeated the Skyhawks last year 11-1 as Colby Bortles hit two home runs for the Rebels and drove in five runs.
Tuesday will be the first of a four-game home stand this week for Ole Miss as it will host 14th-ranked South Carolina in its first SEC home series of the year. The Gamecocks are coming off of a sweep of 20th-ranked Arkansas this past weekend.
– Brian Scott Rippee
