Rebs set for five-game road trip.
By: Adam Brown, Sports Editor of Hottytoddy.com
adam.brown@hottytoddy.com
The Ole Miss baseball team opens up a five-game road stretch tonight, with a mid-week series against the Louisiana Monroe Warhawks before heading off to Arkansas this weekend for the start of the SEC schedule.
Ole Miss sits in the top ten in all of the collegiate baseball polls in the country. The highest ranking is number six, according to Baseball America, which moved the Rebels up one spot from last week’s poll after finishing the week with a prefect five to zip record. Coach Mike Bianco’s squad defeated Southeastern Louisiana during a set of mid-week games before tangling with Lipscomb over the weekend and picking up the fourth straight sweep of the season.
The Rebels rolled over the Bisons by the scores of 10-1 (Friday) and 8-5 (Saturday) before having to play form behind the whole game on Sunday to come back and win 9-8. In the bottom of the seventh inning, Ole Miss scored five runs on seven hits to score the eventual winning run of the game.
Junior Stuart Turner is leading the SEC in three offensive categories with a .491 batting average, .800 slugging percentage and 27 RBI’s through the first four weeks of the season.
Louisiana Monroe (8-7) is trying to bounce back after a series lost to Northwestern State over the weekend. The Warhawks are led at the plate by senior Taylor Abdolla, who has a .353 batting average. Abdolla has hit three home runs and drove in eight RBI’s so far on the year.
Coach Bianco plans to go with Josh Laxer (tonight) and Brady Bramlett (Wednesday) on the hill for the Rebels. Louisiana Monroe has only selected Cale Winn as its starter for tonight’s game, with their starter for Wednesday still to be announced.
Ole Miss and Louisiana Monroe have met on the diamond 37 times before tonight. The Rebels own the all-time series set at 26-10-1 over the Warhawks. The last time they faced each other was back in 2010 when Ole Miss dropped the season opener to Louisiana Monroe by a score of 6-5, before picking up the next two games to win the series.
Fans can catch every pitch between the Warhawks and the Rebels on the radio on 93.7FM or on Rebelvision on the internet. First pitch is set for 6:00 p.m. tonight and Wednesday.
