No. 4 Ole Miss Set to Host No. 5 Arkansas at Swayze

Brady Feigl. Photo by Steven Gagliano

The stage is set for a Top 10 clash on the diamond of Swayze as No. 4 Ole Miss hosts No. 5 Arkansas in a three-game SEC series tilt. First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m. tonight. 

Ole Miss (23-3, 4-2 SEC) notched its 10th come-from-behind win this season on Tuesday defeating Southern Miss, 7-6. Sophomore Thomas Dillard smashed his seventh home run of the season against the Golden Eagles. Dillard is currently on a 15-game hitting streak coming into the weekend.
The Rebels offense is sixth in the nation with 63 doubles on the season. The Rebels are No. 2 the SEC in that category, behind Kentucky (65). They’re No. 13 in the nation and second in the league with 2.42 doubles per game. Will Golsan, Grae Kessinger and Ryan Olenek are tied for the team lead with nine doubles apiece.
Ole Miss’ pitching staff remains No.1 in the nation in strikeout-to-walk ratio at 3.83. In team ERA the Rebels rank 11th in the nation at 2.64.
Arkansas (18-7, 4-2 SEC) rolls into Oxford after defeating the Memphis Tigers 8-7 on the road and dropping the series at No. 2 Florida over the weekend. The Razorbacks have one of the most potent offenses in college baseball, ranked 13th in the nation and second in the SEC with a .311 batting average. They are second in the country and first in the SEC with 47 home runs, averaging 1.88/game.
The Razorbacks have six batters hitting over .300 this season, led by freshman outfielder Heston Kjrestad with .395. Arkansas also has nine different sluggers who have tallied three or more home runs this season, including four with six or more.
The Hogs’ Casey Martin leads the club in home runs with seven this season.
Ole Miss and Arkansas are stepping between the chalk for the 89th time in this storied series. The Razorbacks have the advantage in the all-time series at 46-42, but Ole Miss took two of three last season against Arkansas. In 2016, the Rebels swept the then No. 21 Hogs in Oxford.
The probable pitching matchups for this series will be RHP Blaine Knight (tonight), LHP Evan Lee (Friday) and LHP Kacey Murphy (Saturday) for Arkansas. Coach Mike Bianco will give the ball to LHP Ryan Rolison (tonight), RHP Brady Feigl (Friday) and RHP James McArthur (Saturday) for the Rebels.
Game times are slated for Thursday and Friday at 6:30 p.m. and Saturday at 1:30 p.m. Fans can watch all the action on SEC Network+ or listen to the call on Ole Miss Radio Network.

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