Ole Miss Baseball will begin their quest for another championship on Friday, May 29, at 8 p.m in the NCAA Lincoln Regional against Arizona State. The Sun Devils are a serious threat to advance out of the regional, while host Nebraska is the favorite.
If Ole Miss defeats Arizona State on Friday, they will play the winner of game one, Nebraska or South Dakota State, on Saturday, May 30. If the Rebels lose, they will play the loser of game one in an elimination game.
The last time the Rebels traveled for a regional (2022), they won the national championship. This year’s squad was one game better than the championship team in the regular season, winning 15 SEC games compared to 14. Both teams lost in the first round of the SEC Tournament; however, while the 2022 team was considered one of the last teams in the tournament, the 2026 Rebels just missed a host bid.
Interestingly, Ole Miss defeated a school from Arizona twice in a road regional on their way to the championship four years ago.
Nebraska plays on Hawks Field at Haymarket Park. It seats nearly 8,500 people. The stadium dimensions are: center field 395 feet, left field 335 feet and right field 325 feet.
Hunter Elliott will pitch on Friday against the Sun Devils. Taylor Rabe and Cade Townsend are reliable options for Saturday’s contest.
Elliott’s 5.07 earned run average is not a good indicator of his season. The lefty has struggled at times, but he has been a staple in the weekend rotation all year.
The Sun Devils will certainly be coming into Lincoln, Neb., with a chip on their shoulder. Despite having the third-best Big 12 conference record, they are a No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament. UCF, Cincinnati and Oklahoma State, who were all seeded lower in the Big 12 Tournament, are No. 2 seeds.
The Sun Devils are No. 44 in rating performance index (RPI). They ended the regular season with a 37-19 (19-11 Big 12) record.
Arizona State only has two pitchers with more than eight starts: Cole Carlon (15) and Kole Klecker (12). Carlon, Taylor Penn and Sean Fitzpatrick are the only qualified pitchers on the staff with sub-5.00 ERAs.
The Rebels will face Carlon on Friday night. The lefty has a 3.51 ERA in 77 innings pitched with 124 strikeouts to 29 walks.
Big 12 Player of the Year Landon Hairston leads qualified Arizona State hitters in average (.413), slugging percentage (.897), on-base percentage (.518), home runs (28), RBIs (79), runs (79), hits (92) and doubles (20). The lefty is certainly one to watch.
As a team, Arizona State is second in the Big 12 with 108 homers and third with 467 runs. They also have the least amount of strikeouts.
Ole Miss and Arizona State have polar-opposite strengths, which will make for an exciting game two of the regional.
No. 13 nationally seeded Nebraska went 42-15 (23-7 Big 10) in the regular season. They only had one home loss all season and are No. 10 in RPI.
The Cornhuskers will roll out ace Carson Jasa against the Jackrabbits on Friday, which will leave either Gavin Blachowicz or Ty Horn for Saturday. Cooper Katskee also has double-digit starts for the hosts.
Blachowicz finished the regular season with a 3.93 ERA in 66 ⅓ innings pitched. Horn’s ERA was 3.97 in 77 innings.
Tucker Timmerman is the Cornhuskers’ most-used reliever with 42 ⅓ innings. J’Shawn Unger is the only other reliever on the team to pitch more than 30 innings.
Nebraska is No. 5 in the Big 10 in runs with 429. They are strikeout prone (461) and only have 60 homers on the season, but they lead their conference with 621 hits. They also do not walk a lot (222).
Ole Miss’ strikeout-heavy pitching staff could fare well against Nebraska, but the Cornhuskers’ ability to rack up hits is cause for concern.
Dylan Carey leads the Cornhuskers with 14 homers and 63 RBIs. While the long ball may not be their biggest asset, their offense is dangerous. The entire lineup consists of run producers top to bottom.
Eight batters in their lineup are batting over .300. Seven of them have double-digit doubles, and they all have at least 18 RBIs.
South Dakota State won the Summit League to qualify for the NCAA Tournament. The Jackrabbits went 24-31 (12-15 conference play) in the regular season.
Ole Miss will face off against Arizona State on Friday, May 29, at 8 p.m. ESPN2 will broadcast the game.
