No. 23 Ole Miss Softball Hosts MSU In Strikeout Cancer Game

#22 Ole Miss Softball run rules Jackson State 10-1 in the Ole Miss Classic in Oxford, Mississippi.
Photo by Madi Osias/Ole Miss Athletics

The No. 23 Ole Miss Softball team welcomes Mississippi State for a mid-week non-conference tilt this evening at 6 p.m. for a Pink/Strikeout Cancer game.

Ole Miss (21-6) closes out a 14-game homestand against the Bulldogs.
The Rebels opened up conference play this past weekend against the Texas A&M Aggies, in which the Aggies swept the three-game series.
Junior OF Elantra Cox continues on a blistering pace at the plate, still hitting .523 (fifth-best in NCAA), with 46 total hits (also fifth-most in the country and third-best in the SEC). Her current .523 average is .80 points better than the Ole Miss season record, and she already has 15 multi-hit games in 27 tries.
So far this season, the Rebels are hitting .333 in mid-week games and have tallied 10 extra base hits in two contests scoring 14 runs.
With a 22-7 mark overall, and 2-4 through two weekends of SEC play, Mississippi State heads into Wednesday’s midweek tilt with the first of six-straight non-conference matchups over the next two weeks. Much like Ole Miss, the Bulldogs went into SEC play with a 19-3 mark overall and won 16 games in a row (Feb. 17 – March 10). After going 3-2 in their season-opening tournament in Starkville, the Bulldogs took part in the Puerto Vallarta College Challenge in week two, picking up wins over Fresno State, Texas Tech and Florida Gulf Coast. From there, MSU continued its streak with two more home tournaments before opening SEC play with Texas A&M in College Station. After winning the opener, 5-2, the Bulldogs dropped the final two games, 5-1 and 3-1. Most recently, Mississippi State hosted No. 8 Alabama and took the middle game, 1-0, but fell in the other two contests, 11-3 and 3-0.
At the plate, Mississippi State is last in the league in scoring, averaging just 3.90 runs per game. With four hitters above .300 through 29 games, the team has a .290 average with 113 total runs scored. Bevia Robinson has paced the club with a .383 clip and 31 hits and 18 runs, both which lead the team. Reggie Harrison has clubbed four home runs, tied for the most on the team, and is hitting .370 wth 12 extra-base hits. Caroline Seitz has driven in a team-high 17 RBI, but is hitting just .233 in 90 at-bats. The Bulldogs are 43-of-51 in stolen bases led by 16 from Robinson and six from Harrison.
The Rebels have won 24 games in the series, which dates back to 1997. The two rivals have met 28 times in Oxford, with the Bulldogs holding a 16-12 advantage in what is Ole Miss’ most played series of any school. The last meeting in Oxford was in 2015, and Ole Miss took two games of the series. 2014 was the only season the two rivals didn’t play each other.
Wednesday’s matchup will count as a non-conference game. The Rebels and Bulldogs have faced off in what were considered non-conference contests before, in 2007 and 2008, but they also played three-game SEC series’ in both of those seasons.
Game time is set for 6 p.m. Fans can watch all of the action on the Watch ESPN App.

By Adam Brown, sports editor. He can be reached at adam.brown@hottytoddy.com.
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