Ole Miss and Kentucky put on an exciting weekend series. In three games, the two teams played 31 total innings and the combined winning margin in those games was four runs.
The Rebels (24-7, 8-4 SEC) lost Friday’s series opener 5-4, in 10 innings, and bounced back in the second half of the doubleheader, winning 3-1. On Saturday, the Rebels and Wildcats battled for 12 innings with Ole Miss coming out with a 5-4 win.
That success saw Ole Miss move up three spots in D1Baseball’s Top 25 Rankings to No. 6 while the Rebels stayed at No. 7 in Baseball America’s Top 25 Rankings. Here’s what Baseball America had to say about the Rebels:
“It wasn’t easy, but just as it’s done all season Ole Miss found a way to pick up a key road series win over Kentucky. After dropping the first leg of Friday’s doubleheader in extra-innings, the Rebels bounced back in game two thanks to a Campbell Smithwick game-winning, two-run home run in the top of the ninth inning. Saturday’s finale was a tightly-contested, back-and-forth affair in which Luke Hill played the hero with a game-winning, two-run blast of his own in the top of the 12th. Though Smithwick and Hill came through with the two biggest swings of the weekend, it wouldn’t have been possible without quality pitching. The trio of Riley Maddox (5 IP, 5 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 6 K), Ryne Rodriguez (1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K) and Will McCausland (3 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 5 K) didn’t allow an earned run in game one on Friday, while on Saturday five Ole Miss bullpen arms turned in scoreless appearances. A busy, five-game week lies ahead for the Rebels, headlined by a top 10 clash against Tennessee.”
It’ll be a busy week for the Rebels who will travel to Memphis on Tuesday and then host Alcorn State on Wednesday. They’ll get a day off before hosting No. 4 Tennessee in a three-game weekend series starting at 6:30 p.m. Friday.
Here are the complete top 25 rankings by D1Baseball and Baseball America:
D1Baseball Top 25 Rankings
- Arkansas (30-3)
- Texas (26-4)
- LSU (30-3)
- Clemson (30-5)
- Tennessee (28-4)
- Ole Miss (24-7)
- Georgia (29-5)
- Oregon State (22-7)
- Florida State (25-6)
- UCLA (25-6)
- Auburn (22-10)
- Alabama (27-6)
- UC Irvine (23-7)
- Louisville (24-7)
- Oregon (22-9)
- North Carolina (24-8)
- Vanderbilt (24-8)
- Georgia Tech (26-6)
- Oklahoma (23-8)
- Troy (24-9)
- Coastal Carolina (23-9)
- Kansas (27-6)
- Southern Miss (22-10)
- Arizona (22-9)
- Virginia Tech (22-10)
Baseball America Top 25 Rankings
- Arkansas (30-3)
- Texas (26-4)
- LSU (30-3)
- Tennessee (28-4)
- Clemson (30-5)
- Georgia (29-5)
- Ole Miss (24-7)
- North Carolina (24-8)
- Auburn (22-10)
- Oregon State (22-7)
- Louisville (24-7)
- Wake Forest (23-10)
- Florida State (25-6)
- Alabama (27-6)
- Vanderbilt (24-8)
- Oklahoma (23-8)
- UCLA (25-6)
- UC Irvine (23-7)
- Kansas (27-6)
- Georgia Tech (26-6)
- Troy (24-9)
- Arizona (22-9)
- Oregon (22-9)
- TCU (25-8)
- Western Kentucky (27-5)
