Ole Miss Baseball will travel to Lexington, Ky., to face the Kentucky Wildcats in a three-game series starting today.
The Rebels’ record so far this season is 22-6, including six wins and three losses in SEC play. The Wildcats are 17-9, going 4-5 in conference play.
Overall the Rebels are hitting .298, meaning that they have hit a little over a quarter of the at-bats they take. They also have 58 home runs on the year, with six players having at least five home runs. The best hitter has been outfielder Mitchell Sanford. He has a .358 batting average with nine home runs.
The pitching for the Rebels has been good for the starters, but the bullpen has struggled on occasion. The pitching staff has a combined 5.04 earned run average (ERA), just a bit above the ideal average, which is in the 3.00 range.
On the low end, two pitchers have a sub-three ERA. Ryne Rodriguez and Walker Hooks have a 2.25 ERA and a 2.55 ERA, respectively. The main difference between the two is Hooks has pitched more than double the amount of innings that Rodriguez has, with 17.2 compared to Rodriguez’s eight innings pitched.
Other notable pitchers are Connor Spencer and Alex Canney. Spencer has a sub-one ERA, a .93, with 9.2 innings pitched. Canny has a sub-two ERA, a 1.64, in 11 innings pitched. Hunter Elliott has cooled down from his outstanding start, still boasting a 3.12 ERA with 34.2 innings pitched.
Overall, the Wildcats have a nearly identical batting average — .290 — but with half of the home runs, having only 29. Their cumulative pitching has been better than the Rebels’ as they have a team ERA of 4.36.
The Wildcats are coming off a series victory over Texas A&M last weekend, winning two of three games.
Ben Cleaver is the best pitcher for the Wildcats, having a 2.5 ERA with 36 innings pitched, which is an astonishing stat line. Kentucky’s best hitter is Cole Hage with a 3.63 batting average and eight home runs.
On paper, Ole Miss should just have the edge over the Wildcats, but the series likely will be even overall. Pitchers Hunter Elliott will take the start for game one, with Riley Maddox on the mound tomorrow for game two and Mason Nichols starting for game three on Saturday.
Following the Kentucky series, Ole Miss will host No. 1 Tennessee next week in a three game series on Friday, April 11 for one of the Rebels’ biggest matchups of the season.
The Rebels’ and Wildcats’ first pitch is set for today at 6:30 p.m. and can be streamed on SEC Network/SEC Network+.
