HottyToddy.com’s Daily Ole Miss Sports Roundup

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Today’s roundup features Ole Miss Sports.

Ole Miss Stuns No. 15 Georgia, Advances in SEC Tourney

Photo courtesy of Joshua McCoy / Ole Miss Athletics

It’s been a season of firsts for Ole Miss softball, and the theme continued Wednesday in the opening round of the SEC Tournament as the Rebels took down No. 15 Georgia, 4-2.

With their first win in the tournament in school history, the Rebels (39-18) survive and advance to play No. 1 seed Florida Thursday at 4 p.m. at Nusz Park in the second round.

As has been the case the last few weeks, it was senior Madi Osias who led the charge in the circle, providing another stellar effort in a complete game effort.

Offensively, both Elantra Cox and Hailey Lunderman paced the way for the 8-hit effort, each going 3-for-5. Cox drove in two runs and scored once, while Lunderman made plays both at the plate and in the field all night.

Osias has now worked five complete games in her last seven starts after Wednesday’s victory, improving her record breaking season win total to 21-7. Just two weeks after shutting down the Bulldogs’ (40-17) high-powered offense to help the Rebels to their first win over Georgia in 13 years, Osias nearly matched that effort, allowing only four hits and two runs, one of which was earned. She struck out four in the contest Wednesday, earning her 38th career win.

Ole Miss took advantage of four Georgia errors, two of which came in the same inning, and chased starting pitcher Chelsea Wilkinson, who went just 3.1 frames with four runs allowed, two earned, and six hits with four walks. The Bulldogs’ Kylie Bass entered in relief and finished out the contest with two hits allowed in 3.2 innings.

The Rebels got a runner on in every inning, stranding the bases loaded in the fifth, sixth and seventh, stranding 16 runners overall. Yet, still found enough offense in the second and fourth when they plated two runs to overtake the Bulldogs.

Ole Miss scored the first two of the contest in the second thanks to a 2-RBI knock from Cox. Kylan Becker led it off with a walk, after Courtney Syrett reached on an error on a sacrifice bunt. After Dakota Matiko pushed the runners up on a sacrifice bunt of her own, Cox singled up the middle scoring both Haley Culley and Becker putting the Rebels in front 2-0.

Two innings later, Ashton Lampton drove in Paige McKinney after a walk (Grayce Majam), and two bunt singles (Cox, Lunderman). After the Bulldogs’ pitching change, Sarah Van Schaik delivered an RBI off a groundout to first increasing the lead to 4-0.

Georgia went on to get a run back in the fourth off a solo home run, and scored another in the sixth off a sacrifice fly.

On Deck
No. 9 seed Ole Miss advances to round two to face No. 1 seed Florida at 4 p.m. Thursday at Nusz Park.

For all Ole Miss Softball news and information, go to OleMissSports.com and follow the Rebels on Twitter at @OleMissSoftball, on Facebook at Ole Miss Softball and on Instagram at Instagram.com/olemisssoftball. Fans can also follow head coach Mike Smith on Twitter at @msmithsb16. Additionally fans can get a behind the scenes look at Ole Miss Athletics on Snapchat under the handle, @WeAreOleMiss.

Courtesy of Ole Miss Sports

Ole Miss Women’s Tennis Ready for NCAA First Round Match

2015-2016 Women’s Tennis
Photo by Joshua McCoy/Ole Miss Athletics.

The Ole Miss women’s tennis team has landed in Chapel Hill, North Carolina to begin preparation for their NCAA Championship first round match against Northwestern. The Rebels and Wildcats face off at 9 a.m. Friday from the Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center.

Ole Miss Makes 19th NCAA Appearance…
Ole Miss is making its 19th overall and eighth consecutive NCAA appearance. The Rebels first made the NCAA Championships in 1991. They went again in 1992 and 1993. The 1996 season began a streak of seven consecutive NCAA appearances. The program’s latest appearance streak began in 2009. The Rebels have advanced to the Sweet Sixteen eight times and the Elite Eight four times.

Two for Two …
Ole Miss is one of 36 schools to have both its men’s and women’s tennis teams in the NCAA Championships. The men earned their 23rd consecutive NCAA bid and are headed to Berkeley, California. The Rebels will face Denver in the first round Saturday at 11 a.m. CT.

Scouting Northwestern …
Northwestern (13-10) earned its 18th straight and 27th overall NCAA appearance. The Wildcats come into the NCAAs ranked No. 30. They finished 10-1 in Big Ten play to earn a second-place finish. Northwestern has faced one of the toughest schedules in the nation to date. All 10 of the team’s non-conference dual matches were against ranked opponents, including wins over Arizona State and Georgia Tech. The Wildcats have defeated six ranked foes overall this season, including a victory over then-No. 10 Michigan on April 22. NU is led by redshirt sophomore Maddie Lipp who is ranked No. 52 in the nation in singles and No. 28 in doubles with Alex Chatt.

Series …
Ole Miss holds a slight 3-2 edge in the all-time series with Northwestern.  The two schools haven’t met in dual match competition since a 5-2 victory by the Wildcats over the fifth-ranked Rebels at the National Team Indoor Championships in Madison, Wisconsin, on Feb. 18, 2000.  The Rebels did face some of the Wildcat players last fall at the Alabama tournament.

The winner gets …
The winner of the contest faces the winner of the match between host and third-seeded North Carolina and ETSU with a spot in the Round of 16 on the line.

Rebels in the Rankings…
The Rebels enter the NCAA Championships ranked No. 42 in the nation. The SEC boasts four of the top nine teams in the top 25 and leads the nation with 11 of the 14 league teams earning NCAA bids. In singles, senior Arianne Hartono is ranked No. 33, sophomore Natalie Suk is ranked No. 74 and senior Mai El Kamash is ranked No. 103. In doubles, Hartono and El Kamash are ranked No. 25.

Quoting head coach Mark Beyers…
“This is what you play for the entire season. We are excited to be done with school for the year, and now the players can focus on just tennis. Northwestern has traditionally been a great program and we expect it to be a great match.”

For more information on Ole Miss Women’s Tennis, follow the Rebels on Twitter @OleMissWTennis, on Facebook at OleMissWTennis and on Instagram at OleMissWTennis. Also follow Coach Beyers on Twitter, @MarkBeyers.

Courtesy of Ole Miss Sports 

Opportunity Awaits Ole Miss at SEC Outdoor Track & Field Championships

Photo by Joshua McCoy/Ole Miss Athletics
@olemisspix

Every year, Ole Miss is among the 14 teams that gather for the Southeastern Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships, and every year it’s the same challenge.

Compete against many of the best college athletes in the United States and try to finish top eight in your events to score team points.

The task is formidable, but the 25th-ranked Ole Miss women and 28th-ranked men have trained for this moment and will put their best foot forward in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, this Thursday–Saturday at the Sam Bailey Track & Field Stadium.

The meet will be aired live on SEC Network+ on Friday (6:30-10:05 p.m. CT) and Saturday (3-6:50 p.m. CT). A two-hour highlight show will debut Sunday on ESPN2 at 2 p.m. CT. On-air talent includes play-by-play announcer Dwight Stones, analysts Larry Rawson and Jill Montgomery and field reporter John Anderson.

First-year head coach Connie Price-Smith will lead the Rebels into her first SEC outdoor meet after she helped direct the men to their best finish since 1984 with a third-place result at the SEC indoor meet in February.

The men are looking to make another strong statement this week with some of the highest rated athletes in the conference, including 1500-meter leader Craig Engels.

The 25th-ranked women are looking for a big jump in the team standings from recent years. SEC indoor shot put champion and outdoor leader Raven Saunders, who also ranks third in the league in the discus, leads the way. Several others are close behind her ranked highly among their SEC counterparts in their events.

The SEC boasts eight men’s teams and 10 women’s teams among the top 25 in the nation. Ranked men’s teams include No. 1 Texas A&M, No. 2 Florida, No. 3 LSU, No. 4 Arkansas, No. 6 Georgia, No. 9 Alabama, No. 13 Mississippi State and No. 22 South Carolina. Ranked women’s teams are No. 1 Kentucky, No. 2 Arkansas, No. 6 Florida, No. 7 LSU, No. 10 Texas A&M, No. 11 Georgia, No. 13 Tennessee, No. 16 Mississippi State, No. 24 Auburn and No. 25 Ole Miss.

Head Coach Connie Price-Smith Says:

“We are looking forward to the SEC meet this weekend. The athletes have been working really hard this spring, so now it’s time to show what they can do. We have a small contingency on the men’s side, but a lot of quality. On the women’s side we have a larger group with just as much quality. I look for it to be a really exciting championship for the Rebels.”

Notables:

• The Ole Miss women are 25th in this week’s USTFCCCA national rankings, while the men are at No. 28.
• Ole Miss looks to carry the momentum from SEC Indoors, where the Rebel men placed third for their best SEC finish since 1984, while scoring the most points in program history at an SEC indoor meet (80.5).
• The Rebels finished 7th in the men’s team standings and 12th in the women’s team standings at last year’s SEC Outdoor Championships.
• Returning SEC outdoor medalists include Robert Domanic (1500m, 2014), Craig Engels (1500m, 2015), Dempsey McGuigan (hammer, 2015) and Sean Tobin (1500m, 2014).
• This is the inaugural season of the Connie Price-Smith era at Ole Miss.
• Sophomore Raven Saunders, the 2016 SEC indoor shot put champion, has posted outdoor personal bests in the shot put, discus and hammer throw this year – setting school records in the shot (18.75m/61-6.25) and discus (56.85m/186-6) and ranking No. 2 in school history in the hammer (56.91m/186-8).
• Her shot put PR at the Alabama Relays moved her up to No. 7 on the all-time women’s collegiate outdoor list.
• Saunders now has the best indoor and outdoor shot put marks ever by an SEC woman.
• Saunders is currently No. 5 on this year’s world outdoor shot put rankings after finishing the indoor season at No. 5 in the world.
• Saunders has the top six shot put marks in the NCAA this outdoor season … Combining the 2016 indoor and outdoor seasons, she owns the NCAA’s best 17 puts of the year.
• Ole Miss boasts four of the top 20 men’s 1500m runners in the nation … Sophomore Craig Engels is No. 3 (school-record 3:38.82), junior Robert Domanic is No. 12 (PR 3:40.95), junior Trevor Gilley is 14th (PR 3:41.77), and junior Sean Tobin is 20th (3:42.14) … They hold the top four spots in school history.
• Engels also ranks 17th in the NCAA in the 800m with a time of 1:47.06 at the Payton Jordan Invitational.
• For the sixth time in his two-year career, sophomore Dempsey McGuigan’s broke the Ole Miss hammer throw record, this time with a huge PR of 69.90m/229-4 at the Memphis Invitational that ranks him ninth in the NCAA.
• Sophomore Lindsey Murray, the only female vaulter in Ole Miss history to clear 14 feet, broke the school record with a clearance of 4.34m/14-2.75 at the Memphis Invitational, which ranks her 11th in the nation this year.
• Sophomore Emily Bean has enjoyed the Stanford track this year, shattering both the 5,000m and 10,000m school records there with her times of 16:30.33 and 33:39.36, respectively … She ranks 17th nationally in the 10K.
• The women’s 4x100m relay returns three of four legs from last year’s NCAA outdoor finals squad … The quartet of Nicole Henderson, Shannon Ray, Breanna Tate and Khadijah Suleman ran a season-best 44.03 at the Florida Relays and rank No. 15 in the NCAA this year.
• Entering the SEC Championships, Ole Miss would have 14 men’s entries (in seven events) at the NCAA East Preliminary in Jacksonville, Florida … The women would have 15 entries (in 10 events).

For more information on Ole Miss Track & Field, follow the Rebels on Twitter at @OleMissTrack, as well as Facebook and Instagram.

Courtesy of Ole Miss Sports

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