Headlines
Ole Miss Hosts LSU on the Diamond
Photo by Joshua McCoy/Ole Miss Athletics
@olemisspix
Tonight the Ole Miss Rebels return home to Swayze Field to host LSU in a three-game SEC West showdown.
No. 9 Ole Miss (31-11, 10-8 SEC) enter the series after dropping a midweek game to Mississippi State in the annual Governor’s Cup by the score of 2-0. Prior to Tuesday’s game, the Rebels swept Auburn last weekend.
The Rebels rank seventh in the RPI this week.
On offense, Tate Blackman has reached base in 27 of the last 28 games. As his teammate Henri Lartigue continues to lead all catchers in the SEC with a .366 batting average.
Let’s take a closer look at the LSU Tigers.
The Tigers enter the weekend with a 27-14 record, including a 10-8 mark in conference play to tie the Rebels for second in the SEC West. LSU has lost three of its last four games, dropping a home series to Mississippi State before falling to Tulane in a midweek matchup on Tuesday. At the plate, LSU hitters have only gone down on strikes at an average of 4.68 per game, the fewest in the SEC. Freshman Antoine Duplantis has emerged at one of the Tigers’ top hitters , leading the team with a .358 batting average.
Through the first 10 weekends of the season, LSU has kept its same rotation. Junior Jared Poché, sophomore Alex Lange and senior John Valek III make up the Tigers’ trio of starting pitchers on the weekend. Lange is the team’s leader in strikeouts (75), while Valek III boasts the best strikeout-to-walk ratio (40:7) among the starters. As the Friday night starter, Poché has produced the best ERA of the three (3.26) at this point of the season. The Tigers are coached by Paul Mainieri, who is in his 10th season at LSU and 34th overall as a head coach.
LSU is also the alma mater of Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco. Bianco played at LSU from 1988-1989 and later served as an assistant coach at the school from 1993-1997.
The probable pitching matchup for this weekend Coach Mainieri will send to the mound Jared Poché, Alex Lange and John Valek. Coach Bianco will call on the arms of Bramlett, Parkinson and McArthur.
Game times for this series tilt are slated for tonight at 6 p.m. on SEC Network, Friday at 6:30 p.m. SEC Network+ and Saturday at 11 on ESPN2. Fans can also listen to games on the Ole Miss Radio Network.
Adam Brown is the sports editor for HottyToddy.com. He can be reached at adam.brown@hottytoddy.com.
Follow HottyToddy.com on Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat @hottytoddynews. Like its Facebook page: If You Love Oxford and Ole Miss…
| Mon, Nov 4 |  | vs Long Island University | W, 90-60 |
| Fri, Nov 8 |  | vs Grambling | W, 66-64 |
| Tue, Nov 12 |  | vs South Alabama | W, 64-54 |
| Sat, Nov 16 |  | vs Colorado State | W, 84-69 |
| Thu, Nov 21 |  | vs Oral Roberts | L, 100-68 |
| Thu, Nov 28 |  | vs BYU | W, 96-85 OT |
| Fri, Nov 29 |  | vs 13 Purdue | L, 80-78 |
| Tue, Dec 3 |  | @ Louisville | W, 86-63 |
| Sat, Dec 7 |  | vs Lindenwood | W, 86-53 |
| Sat, Dec 14 |  | vs Southern Miss | W, 77-46 |
| Tue, Dec 17 |  | vs Southern | W, 74-61 |
| Sat, Dec 21 |  | vs Queens University | W, 80-62 |
| Sat, Dec 28 |  | @ Memphis | L, 87-70 |
| Sat, Jan 4 |  | vs Georgia | W, 63-51 |
| Wed, Jan 8 |  | @ 23 Arkansas | W, 73-66 |
| Sat, Jan 11 |  | vs LSU | W, 77-65 |
| Tue, Jan 14 |  | @ 5 Alabama | W, 74-64 |
| Sat, Jan 18 |  | @ 17 Mississippi State | L, 81-84 |
| Wed, Jan 22 |  | vs 13 Texas A&M | L, 62-63 |
| Sat, Jan 25 |  | @ Missouri | L, 83-75 |
| Wed, Jan 29 |  | vs Texas | W, 72-69 |
| Sat, Feb 1 |  | vs 2 Auburn | L, 92-82 |
| Tue, Feb 4 |  | vs 10 Kentucky | W, 98-84 |
| Sat, Feb 8 | | @ LSU | 7:30 PM SECN |
| Wed, Feb 12 |  | @ South Carolina | 6:00 PM SECN |
| Sat, Feb 15 | | vs 17 Mississippi State | 5:00 PM TBA |
| Sat, Feb 22 |  | @ Vanderbilt | 2:30 PM SECN |
| Wed, Feb 26 | | @ 2 Auburn | 6:00 PM TBA |
| Sat, Mar 1 |  | vs 12 Oklahoma | 1:00 PM TBA |
| Wed, Mar 5 |  | vs 1 Tennessee | 8:00 PM TBA |
| Sat, Mar 8 |  | @ 6 Florida | 5:00 PM SECN |