Rebs and Gators Play In Gainesville

The diamond Rebels head to Gainesville for a three-game series.

By: Adam Brown, Sports Editor of Hottytoddy.com

adam.brown@hottytoddy.com

Photo by Peyton Spear for Hottytoddy.com

The Ole Miss baseball team takes on the Florida Gators this weekend in Gainesville at Mckeathan Stadium.

No.11 Ole Miss (22-4, 3-3 SEC) comes into the series with Florida after a 10-4 victory on Wednesday over the Arkansas State Red Wolves. In the seventh inning of that game, Ole Miss manufactured a five-run rally off of five-hits –– marking the second-time this season the Rebels have put together a five-run, seventh-inning rally to win a game, with the last time coming on March 10, against Lipscomb.

Sophomore Sikes Orvis has found his hitting groove at the plate over the last four-games with a .583 average.  Junior Stuart Turner continues to manufacture hits at the plate as well with a .460 clip on the season.

Florida (11-15, 2-4 SEC) enters the weekend after dropping a back-to-back conference series against Kentucky and Vanderbilt. The Gators also lost to their in-state rivals Florida State by a score of 2-1 in midweek action on Tuesday.

Sophomore Justin Shafer leads the Gators with a .317 average and has three home runs on the year.

Florida’s coach Kevin O’Sullivan’s pitching rotation for this matchup showcases the arm of freshman RHP Jay Carmicheal (tonight), junior RHP Jonathan Crawford (Saturday), with Sunday’s starter yet to be announced.  Coach Mike Bianco is sending Wahl (tonight), Mayers (Saturday) and Chris Ellis (Sunday) to the hill. Ellis saw action on the mound last weekend against Texas A&M in a relief appearance.

Ole Miss and Florida know each other well on the diamond, with their first meeting going back to 1948. Over the years, the Rebels have built up a 45-38 series lead. In Gainesville, however, Ole Miss trails Florida by a 14-26 series margin.

Fans can catch the action of this SEC rivalry on the radio tonight at 6:00 p.m. CDT, and on TV Saturday and Sunday at noon respectively (CSS & FoxSports-Fla).