Baseball
Ole Miss Closes Out Regular Season On The Road At Auburn
The Ole Miss baseball regular season comes to a close as they begin a three-game series with the #23 Auburn Tigers tonight. Sitting at 31-22 overall and 13-14 in the SEC, the Rebels are on the bubble of missing out on the NCAA Tournament. While their spot in the SEC Tournament is safe, momentum going into the postseason is important. If the Rebels hope to make any noise in Hoover, they need to start with a strong showing on the road at Auburn.
The Rebels dropped their final midweek matchup of the season 5-0 to Arkansas State, a disappointing performance to say the least. After falling behind early on, Ole Miss could never rally to get a run across. The Rebel bats fell flat as they tallied just five hits in the losing effort against a team that had given up 47 runs in a six-game stretch. The inconsistency at the plate has plagued the Rebels all season long and they must break out of their slump this weekend.
Another trend Ole Miss must reverse this weekend is their 5-10 road record. The Rebels have played their last game at Swayze unless they manage to win the SEC Tournament, so they have to get used to winning away from home.
Auburn has lost six straight games and that could be a good or bad thing for the Rebels. Either the Tigers have mailed it in for the remainder of the regular season, or they’ll presumably want to enter the SEC Tournament on a winning streak rather than continuing their losing trend. Leading the way for Auburn at the plate is Jonah Todd with a .383 average. Although he doesn’t have any home runs, the level of consistency is noteworthy as the regular season ends. As a team, the Tigers are batting .278, good for 6th in the conference.
Pitching matchups
Thursday
OM: James McArthur – RHP (3-5, 4.70 ERA)
AU: Keegan Thomspon – RHP (5-4, 2.48 ERA)
Friday
OM: Ryan Rolison – LHP (6-2, 2.48 ERA)
AU: Casey Mize – RHP (6-2, 1.97 ERA)
Saturday
OM: David Parkinson – LHP (3.48 ERA)
AU: Davis Daniel – RHP (3-2, 5.28 ERA)
Game Times
Thursday: 6 p.m.
Friday: 6 p.m.
Saturday: 1 p.m.
Where to watch/listen
All games can be seen on the SEC Network+ App and can be heard on the Ole Miss Radio Network and OleMissSports.com.
Weather
Tonight and tomorrow are all clear, but Saturday’s 60 percent chance of rain may pose a problem.
Steven Gagliano is a writer for HottyToddy.com. He can be reached at steven.gagliano@hottytoddy.com.
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