No. 4 Ole Miss Takes a Divison Lead to No. 23 Alabama

By Adam Brown
Sports Editor
adam.brown@hottytoddy.com

No. 4 Ole Miss hits the road to take on the  No. 23 Alabama Crimson Tide in an SEC West Division baseball showdown this weekend. The first pitch is set for Friday at 2 p.m. in a doubleheader on SEC Network+. 

Due to inclement weather conditions, the start of the series was pushed back to Friday. The two programs were expected to start Thursday at 6 p.m. on ESPNU. 

Ole Miss (17-4, 3-0 SEC) currently sits atop of the West Division after a sweep of Auburn last weekend. The Rebels are coming off of a 5-2 victory over Central Arkansas. 

Against the Bears, Ole Miss belted three home runs of the bats of Jacob Gonzalez, Tim Elko and Hayden Dunhurst. 

The Rebels pitching staff will get Dough Nikhazy back on the mound this weekend. 

Alabama (15-6, 1-2 SEC) comes into the series after dropping the weekend series to No. 1 Arkansas and a midweek contest to Southern Miss.

Alabama is led at the plate by redshirt freshman Andrew Pinckney with a .354 average. The Crimson Tide has hit 26 home runs on the season.

The probable pitching rotation for this weekend will have Gunnar Hoglund (Game one Friday), Doug Nikhazy (Game two Friday) and Derek Diamond (Saturday). The Crimson Tide will match with Tyler Ras, Dylan Smith and Antonie Jean.

These two clubs have met 362 times on the baseball diamond with the Crimson Tide holding a 211-151-2 lead in the all-time series. The Rebels have won the last three series and seven of the last nine games between the two squads. Ole Miss took two of three in Oxford in the last meeting in 2019. The Rebels also took two of three on their last trip to Tuscaloosa in 2018.