Ole Miss Heads to Coral Gables Regional Against Arizona

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

Ole Miss is set to open its Road to Omaha in the Coral Gables Regional on Friday as they take the diamond against the No. 2 seed Arizona Wildcats.

Ole Miss (32-22, 14-16 SEC) will take on the Wildcats 55 minutes following the Miami Hurricanes and Canisius at 9 a.m. CT due to a tropical storm.

“We are just excited to get the chance to keep playing,” Ole Miss team captain Tim Elko said.

The Rebels and the Wildcats are meeting for the first time since the Super Regional game three matchup last season in Tuscan, Arizona.

“Arizona is a good baseball team,” Elko said. “They are a good baseball program. They may have lost a few players from last year, but they are still a good baseball team. So are we, it’s going to be a good matchup.”

Ole Miss got into the tournament after winning seven of their last 10 games, including five victories over top-15 opponents, four within the top-10 to close out the regular season.

Ole Miss left fielder Kevin Graham is riding a 12-game hit streak while batting .480 and posting multiple knocks in six of the last 10 games, including a 5-for-5 performance against Missouri on May 8.

Arizona (37-23, 16-14 PAC-12) roll into the NCAA Regional after falling to Stanford 4-5 in the PAC-12 Baseball Tournament. The Wildcats ended the regular season by getting swept by the Oregon Ducks.

This season, Arizona has two sluggers hitting over .350 on the season Tanner O’Tremba at .351 and Daniel Susac at .367.

The Wildcats have belted a total of 63 home runs this season led by Chase Davis with 16.

Fans will see the right-hander Dylan DeLucia on the mound for the Rebels. This season, DeLucia has a 5-2 record with a 4.57 ERA with 67 strikeouts to 23 walks. Arizona will match up with the southpaw Garrett Irvin who is 5-4 with a 3.22 ERA and 62 strikeouts to 29 walks on the season.

Prior to last season’s NCAA Tucson Super Regional, Ole Miss and Arizona had met up twice in their history. The first matchup came in 1956 at the College World Series, a 7-3 Arizona win. The Rebels defeated the Wildcats 5-4 in 17 innings in 2021 in Oxford, the only-ever regular season meeting between the two sides. Last season, Ole Miss and Arizona met up with a berth in the College World Series on the line in Tucson. After Arizona took game one, Ole Miss won game two 12-3 behind some early offense and excellent pitching performances by Doug Nikhazy and Austin Miller.