A pair of Ole Miss baseball players received Player of the Week honors on Monday after the Rebels’ series sweep against Xavier and a midweek victory over Alcorn State.
Anthony Servideo was named National Player of the Week by Collegiate Baseball. With one of the hottest bats in college baseball, the lead-off hitter for the Rebels hit .500 and three home runs over the week.
The shortstop started his dominant week on Wednesday when the Rebels hosted Alcorn State. Servideo saved the Rebels from a disastrous early-season midweek loss going 3-5 and finishing the game in the 10th inning on a walk-off home run to right center.
“Yeah,” Servideo said with a laugh when asked if he was swinging for the fences. “We were hanging around too long. It shouldn’t have gone 10 innings, but I’m really proud of how the team fought and came out with a win.”
Servideo came back and went 4-9 in the weekend sweep of Xavier, knocking in five runs in the process. He also had four home runs, his career best — tied for the team lead with Cael Baker, who was named SEC Co-Player of the Week in week one.
Doug Nikhazy was also recognized for his performance this week as he was named SEC Pitcher of the Week.
The lefthanded ace got the loss in his first start of the season last week against Louisville, but bounced back to his normal dominance against Xavier.
Nikhazy feasted against the Musketeer lineup on Friday night, going 6.0 innings without allowing a hit before Drew McDaniel and Jackson Kimbrell took over to complete the combined no-hitter. Nikhazy struck out nine of the 20 batters he faced in the outing.
“It was a great feeling,” Nikhazy said. “It’s awesome to see Drew and Kimbrell get in there (and) have so much success, and it’s good for us because Coach (Mike Bianco) was talking a lot about how we’ve had gritty wins, but let’s come out here and dominate both sides of the baseball.”
With the commanding performance over the weekend, the Rebels vaulted up to No. 15 in the D1Baseball.com poll. The Rebels are 6-1 for the season with an important midweek test against Southern Miss on Tuesday evening. The Golden Eagles are also 6-1 with a sweep of Murray State, a midweek win over New Orleans and two victories over Central Arkansas.
Freshman Wes Burton will start on the mound for Ole Miss while Southern Miss deploys sophomore Drew Boyd. First pitch is scheduled for 4 p.m. at Swayze Field.
