No. 6 Ole Miss Heads to the Lone-star State for Top-Ten Series

Tate Blackman
Photo by Joshua McCoy/Ole Miss Athletics
@olemisspix

Two top-10 teams prepare to meet on the diamond tonight to start a three-game SEC West Showdown. Ole Miss has traveled to the state of Texas to tangle with the Aggies. Both teams have a lot on the line in this series as tournament time draws near.

No. 6 Ole Miss (39-14, 17-10 SEC) heads into to Blue Bell Park after dropping a 8-6 decission to Arkansas State on Tuesday night. The Rebels catcher Henri Lartigue leads all SEC catchers at the plate with a .358 batting average, including a .390 clip in SEC play.

His teammate J.B. Woodman is hitting .429 with runners in scoring position this season. As shortstop Errol Robinson is hitting .354 over the last 26 games, recording at least one hit in 23 of those contests.

Coach Mike Bianco’s club is outscoring the opposition 137-71 in the first three innings of games.

Lets take a closer look at the Aggies.

No. 2 Texas A&M enters the final weekend of the regular season with a 39-12 record, including an 18-9 mark to sit in a tie atop the SEC West. The Aggies are coming off a 5-0 loss to Sam Houston State on Tuesday. With a team batting average of .314, Texas A&M leads the SEC. Pacing the bats, junior Boomer White is hitting at a conference-best .416 clip with an SEC-high 84 hits. Senior Hunter Melton provides power at the plate with 11 doubles and 11 homers, and his 60 RBI tops the SEC. On the mound, Brigham Hill is the ace of the staff with a 6-1 record and a 2.12 ERA. Another starter, Kyle Simonds is 8-2 with a 2.88 ERA and has tossed a no hitter versus Vanderbilt earlier this season. The Aggies are coached by Rob Childress, who is in his 11th season at Texas A&M.

The probable pitching matchup for this weekend looks like this where the Rebels will send to the mound Bramlett, Parkinson and Smith. The Aggies will go with a rotation of Brigham Hill, Turner Larkins and Kyle Simonds.

Texas A&M and Ole Miss have only meet on the diamond on thirteen occasions, but the Aggies do lead the all-time series by one game. Last season both teams each one a game in the series.

Now let’s look ahead to the conference tournament next week in Hoover.

With only one weekend left of conference play, it’s time to start looking towards the 2016 SEC Baseball Tournament, which will take place May 24-29 in Hoover, Alabama. Ole Miss is currently tied for third in the SEC West with rival LSU. In the overall standings, the Rebels and Tigers are tied for fifth place. If the season ended today, Ole Miss would be the No. 5 seed, holding the tiebreaker over LSU after winning the season series, and square off against Auburn, which is currently the No. 12 seed. There are still plenty of scenarios to play out as Ole Miss can end up anywhere from the No. 1 seed to the No. 8 seed.

This weekend the Rebels can clinch a share of the Western Divisional title and at least one loss by MSU.

Game times are set for Thursday at 6 p.m., Friday at 6:30 p.m. and Saturday will wrap the 2016 regular season up at 2 p.m. Both tonight’s and Saturdays game’s will be on SEC Network while Friday’s game will be shown on SEC Network+. Fans can also listen to every pitch on the Ole Miss Radio Network.

Adam Brown is the sports editor for HottyToddy.com. He can be reached at adam.brown@hottytoddy.com.

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