The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss Opens SEC Play
3/9/2000 | Baseball
March 9, 2000
OXFORD, Miss. - The Ole Miss baseball team begins Southeastern Conference play this weekend with a three-game road series against Florida. Game one is Friday at 6 p.m. CST at McKethan Stadium in Gainesville, Fla. Saturday's game is also scheduled for 6 p.m., while the finale is Sunday at 12:30 p.m.
Ole Miss is 10-5 on the year after dropping a pair of games to 4th-ranked Baylor Tuesday and Wednesday in Oxford. Now the Rebels return to the road, where they are 2-2 thus far this season. Ole Miss' leading hitter entering the SEC opener is junior catcher Carl Lafferty, who is batting .418 with two home runs and 14 RBI. The Rebels posted a school-record 17 conference wins a year ago and swept the Gators in Oxford.
Florida takes a three-game sweep of UMass and an 11-9 mark into the weekend. The Gators are hitting .307 as a team with a staff ERA of 7.63. Junior first baseman Jason Dill leads UF at the plate with a .391 average and a team-high four homers.
Senior right-hander Jeff McAvoy is set to take the mound for the Rebels on Friday. He is 3-1 on the year with a 5.68 ERA in 19 innings of work. Florida will throw junior left-hander Mike Smalley in the opener. Smalley is 3-1 with a 6.31 ERA and will be making his first ever appearance against Ole Miss. UM's scheduled starter for game two is sophomore southpaw Nathan Lyons (3-1, 1.57 ERA) with senior right-hander Joey Cramblitt (3-1, 2.22 ERA) going on Sunday.
