No. 3 Ole Miss Steps Back Into Conference Play at South Carolina

Ryan Olenek. Photo by Steven Gagliano

No. 3 Ole Miss hits the road this weekend for an SEC series tilt with the South Carolina Gamecocks being this evening. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. CT.

Ole Miss (35-11, 12-9 SEC) is coming out off a 10-3 victory over Arkansas Pine Bluff on Wednesday to remain perfect at home in midweek games at 8-0.
The Rebels are eyeing their sixth SEC series win of the season this weekend, after taking two of three from LSU last weekend and two of three from the Georgia Bulldogs the weekend prior.
Junior Ryan Olenek is on a 20-game hitting streak, the longest active streak in the SEC. He’s hitting .474 in league play, the conference’s best mark. He is statistically the toughest player to strike out in the league with just 11 K on the season.
This season, every Ole Miss batter who has started a game has hit a home run this season. In total 14 different Rebs have gone yard this year. Sophomore Thomas Dillard leads the club with ten on the season.
South Carolina (26-18, 11-10 SEC) is coming in off of a series win at Vanderbilt by taking the first and third games of the series. The Gamecocks have swept its last two home series, taking three from both Tennessee and LSU.
South Carolina has hit well for power this season, ranking 10th nationally with 57 homers on the year. Five Gamecock starters are batting over. 300 this season, led by TJ Hopkins at a .358 mark. LT Tolbert has produced more runs than any Gamecock this season with 35 RBI and 32 runs scored, both team-highs.
USC’s Carlos Cortes has provided the most pop in the USC lineup with 12 home runs on the season.
The Gamecocks hold the all-time series lead over Ole Miss at 35-23, including an 18-9 advantage in Columbia. The Gamecocks swept the Rebels in their last series, which came in Oxford in 2016. Ole Miss exacted revenge later that season, downing USC 10-4 in the SEC tournament. The Rebels last traveled to Columbia in 2015, where they took one of three from the top-ranked Gamecocks. The last series win for Ole Miss over USC came in 2011 in Oxford.
The probable pitching matchup for this weekend series the Rebels will send to the hill LHP Ryan Rollison (tonight), RHP Brady Feigl (Saturday) and RHP James McArthur (Sunday). South Carolina will go with RHP Logan Chapman (tonight), RHP Adam Hill (Saturday) and RHP Cody Morris (Sunday).
Game times are set for tonight at 6 p.m. and Saturday at 3 p.m. on SECNetwork. Sunday’s game is at 11 a.m. on the SEC Network. Fans can also listen to all the action on the Ole Miss Radio Network.

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