The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss Baseball Notes
2/16/2000 | Baseball
Feb. 16, 2000
Game #4, Home Date #4, vs. Abilene Christian
Date: Thursday, February 17, 2000 Time: 3:00 pm Stadium: Oxford-University Stadium/Swayze Field Site: Oxford, Mississippi
TODAY'S PITCHING MATCH-UP
Jarrod Cross, ACU (Sr., RHP, 1-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. Casey Fuller, UM (Soph., LHP, First start)
PROBABLE PITCHING MATCH-UP VS. LOUISIANA TECH
Tomorrow: #40 Robert Ogle (Sr., LHP), 2-0, 6.59 vs. #34 Jeff McAvoy (Sr., RHP), 1-0, 0.00
Saturday: #14 Mike Franko (Jr., RHP), 0-0, 3.86 vs. #24 Nathan Lyons (Jr., LHP), 0-1, 2.25
Sunday: #38 Mike Buckle (Jr., RHP), 1-0, 1.32 or #36 Adam Kirkendall (Fr., LHP), 0-1, 8.10 vs. #49 Joey Cramblitt (Sr., RHP), 1-0, 0.00
REBELS VS. ABILENE CHRISTIAN: Today's game marks the first-ever meeting between Ole Miss and Abilene Christian.
SCOUTING ABILENE CHRISTIAN: The Wildcats bring an 8-0 mark into today's game, and are ranked 12th in NCAA Division II ... ACU is located in Abilene, Texas and a member of the Lone Star Conference ... ACU returns five position starters and 15 lettermen from last year's 41-19 squad, including junior 2B Matt Davidson, the LSC's Preseason Player of the Year ... This is ACU's first road game and the first of five away from Abilene ... The Wildcats have outscored their opponents 104-16 this season ... ACU has a team batting average of .388 and a team ERA of 1.20 through its first eight games.
AFTER THREE GAMES LAST YEAR: Ole Miss was 1-2 at this point last year after opening the season at nationally-ranked Baylor ... The Rebels were hitting .313 (36-for-115) with six HRs and 22 RBIs, five doubles, one triple ... They stole 2-of-3 bases and had hit into two double plays ... Ole Miss and Baylor each scored 28 runs during the three-game series ... Rebel pitchers had a 7.92 ERA (25.0 IP, 28 ER), allowing 27 hits, including five HRs, walked 16 and had struck out 14 ... Ole Miss had committed six errors in the three games.
HUISMAN SETS SAVE MARK: Junior RHP Justin Huisman recorded a scoreless ninth inning in relief Sunday against Nicholls State to record his first save of the year and surpass Skipper Wright (1983-1986) as Ole Miss' career leader in saves with 14. Last season, Huisman converted on 10-of-14 save opportunities to set a school single-season mark for saves.
REBEL BULLET POINTS:
The Rebels had seven players make their collegiate debuts during the course of last weekend's series against Nicholls State: junior OF Billy Curry, JUCO transfer Lance Jones, redshirt freshman RHP Joey Liberto, freshman RHP Matthew Miller, redshirt junior Sim Shanks, freshman RHP Brett Young and freshman C Charlie Waite.
Junior Lance Jones went 2-for-2 in his collegiate debut on Sunday, and hit his first career home run with a solo shot to lead-off the fourth inning.
Redshirt junior 2B Sim Shanks recorded his first career multi-hit game Sunday against Nicholls State, going 3-for-5 during his first career start.
Junior C Carl Lafferty has thrown out three-of-seven runners (42.9 percent) attempting to steal on him this season.
Sophomore OF Burney Hutchinson and senior 1B Jude Voltz both bring three-game hitting streaks into today's game.
In the first three games of the season, the Ole Miss starting pitchers have posted an 0.69 ERA in 13 innings of work.
Since 1998, Ole Miss is 47-7 (.870 winning percentage) when leading after seven innings, and is 51-3 (.944 winning percentage) when holding a lead after eight innings.
Ole Miss played just one Thursday game last season, that being a 2-0 victory over South Carolina on May 20 at the SEC Tournament in Birmingham, Alabama.
The Rebels are 26-6 (.813 winning percentage) since the start of last season when scoring seven runs or more, and 10-23 (.303 winning percentage) when scoring fewer than seven runs in a game.
Ole Miss is 57-31 (.647 winning percentage) at home under fourth-year head coach Pat Harrison. The Rebels posted a 21-5 record last season with the .808 winning percentage ranking as the best in the 11-year history of Oxford-University Stadium/Swayze Field.
TODAY'S STARTING PITCHER
#23 CASEY FULLER, Soph., LHP
(Dixon, Calif./Sacramento City C.C.)
Is making his first career start and appearance.
Signed with Ole Miss during the 1998 early fall signing period out of Sacramento City Community College.
Was 1-0 with a 3.00 ERA in 27 IP and 35 strikeouts during the fall of 1998 at Sac City.
Was plagued with injuries during the 1999 spring campaign.
Was a 40th round draft choice of the Minnesota Twins in 1997, and a 25th round selection of the Montreal Expos in 1998.
Attended Dixon High School, where he earned All-SCAL honors.
