No. 5 Diamond Rebels Host No. 16 Auburn for Final Home Series

Ryan Olenek, Photo by Steven Gagliano

No. 5 Ole Miss Baseball returns home this evening as they play host to No. 16 Auburn for the final home series of the regular season. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. on ESPNU.

Ole Miss (36-13, 13-11 SEC) comes into the weekend after dropping a series to South Carolina. The Rebels took Game 3 by the score of 6-5 on Sunday.
The Ole Miss offense ranks 10th nationally in slugging percentage, 12th in home runs, 13th in runs scored and 15th in batting average. Ole Miss has scored 108 more runs on 86 more hits than at this point last year. The Rebel offense has added 22 more doubles, 15 more home runs and 104 more RBIs. Ole Miss has also struck out 57 fewer times than it did through 49 games last season. 
Junior, Ryan Olenek is on a 23-game hitting streak, the longest active streak in the SEC. He’s hitting .414 on the season, good for No. 7 in the nation and No. 2 among players from five power conferences. He’s hitting .494 in league play, the conference’s best mark. He is statistically the toughest player to strike out in the league with just 12 K on the season.
Sophomore Thomas Dillard hit his 11th home run of the season Sunday against South Carolina. He is one of just two players in the SEC with 48 or more RBIs and runs scored with 48 apiece.
Auburn (35-14, 13-11 SEC) rolls into Oxford on a four-game winning streak after defeating South Alabama 10-4 Tuesday and sweeping the Vanderbilt Commodores in Auburn over the weekend.
The Tigers are second in the SEC and 12th in the nation in runs scored (353). They lead the SEC in per-game scoring at 7.4 runs per contest. Brendan Venter leads the Tigers in batting average (.317) and slugging percentage (.543) with nine doubles and 11 home runs on the year. His teammate Jay Estes is just behind with a .310 average and a team-high 14 doubles. 
Freshman Edouard Julian has provided some outstanding power for the Tigers this season with 13 home runs and 52 RBIs, both team-highs.
Ole Miss and Auburn are tied in their all-time series with 85 wins apiece and one tie. Head coach Mike Bianco enters the weekend 29-24 against the Tigers in his career, with Auburn holding the advantage in the most recent matchups, an SEC Tournament win over the Rebels in 2017 as well as a series victory earlier in the year. The Rebels have won the last six meetings in Oxford, sweeping the Tigers in 2014 and 2016.
The probable pitching matchup for this weekend for the Tigers will have RHP Davis Daniel tonight, RHP Casey Mize Friday and RHP Tanner Burns Saturday. The Rebels will send LHP Ryan Rolison (tonight), RHP Brady Feigl (Friday) and RHP James McArthur (Saturday) to the hill. 
Game times are set for 6 p.m. tonight (ESPNU), 6:30 p.m. Friday and 4 p.m. Saturday on SECNetwork+. Fans can also listen to the series on the Ole Miss Radio Network.

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