No.13 Ole Miss Takes Part in the Chanticleer Classic this Weekend

Colby Bortles
Photo by Joshua McCoy/Ole Miss Athletics

The Ole Miss baseball team leaves Swayze for the first time this season as they go take part in Chanticleer Classic in Conway, South Carolina. The Rebels will face three different teams in three days in this classic.

Ole Miss enters the weekend with a 7-1 record on the season. On Wednesday, the Rebels railed from six runs down to defeat the Memphis Tigers 9-7. Coach Mike Bianco’s club scored seven runs in the bottom of the third inning to take control of the game.

The Rebels enter the weekend ranked No.13 in the nation according to Baseball America.

Let’s take a closer look at this weekend’s three opponents for the Rebels.

Ole Miss begins the Chanticleer Classic against the Ball State Cardinals who enters the tournament with a 3-5 record. The Cardinals have been in two tournaments thus far, playing four games each weekend. Caleb Stayton and Alex Call pace BSU at the dish, hitting .406 and .379, respectively. Squaring off against the Rebels to open the tournament, BSU plans to give the ball to senior southpaw Kevin Marnon, who is 1-1 with a 2.13 ERA. Rich Maloney enters his 21st season as a head coach, including his 11th leading the Cardinals.

Coastal Carolina is the third 2015 NCAA Tournament team that Ole Miss will face this season (FIU, Louisville). The Chanticleers are hosting their third tournament of four to begin the 2016 campaign. CCU is hitting .328 as a team with seven players boasting at least a .300 average. Anthony Marks leads the way at .448, followed closely by G.K. Young (.438). Young is the team leader in hits (14), runs (8) and RBI (13). On the mound, Coastal Carolina will send out Tyler Poole against Ole Miss. In two starts, Poole is 2-0 with 11 strikeouts and the lowest ERA on the team at 0.84. With over 1,000 wins for his career and nearing the 800-win plateau at Coastal Carolina, Gary Gilmore is in his 27th season as head coach.

Cincinnati enters the weekend in search of its first win. Ole Miss will be the second team the Bearcats have faced this season; UC opened the 2016 campaign at LSU and nearly knocked off the Tigers in the season opener before falling in extra innings. Manny Rodriguez’s .259 average is a team best, while Conner McVey provides speed on the base path with a perfect 4-for-4 in steals. Head coach for the Bearcats is Ty Neal, who is in his third season at the helm of the program.

Here is the probable pitching match-up for this classic as the Ball State Cardinals will Kevin Marnon send to the hill to face Brady Bramlett this morning. On Saturday, Coastal Carolina will go with Tyler Poole and the Rebels will call on the arm of Chad Smith. For the last game of the classic coach Mike Bianco will go with Sean Johnson while to this point Cincinnati has yet to release the name of their starter.

The Rebels have never stepped between the chalk to face any of the teams they will play this weekend.

Game times are 11 a.m. against Ball State today, Saturday the Rebels will face Coastal Carolina at 2 p.m. and then on Sunday morning at 10 am Ole Miss will take the field against Cincinnati. Fans can listen to every pitch on the Ole Miss Radio network.

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

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