Ole Miss Baseball Game Notes

Game #53, Home Game #30 vs. Arkansas
Date: Friday, May 12, 2000
Time: 6:30 p.m.
Stadium: Oxford-University Stadium/Swayze Field
Location: Oxford, Mississippi

TONIGHT'S PITCHING MATCH-UP
Wes McCrotty (Jr., LHP), 0-6, 10.84 vs. Jeff McAvoy (Sr., RHP) 7-5, 5.14

RAZORBACKS VS. McAVOY: Crossett .250 (1-4), Kirby .167 (1-6), McCrotty .000 (0-2), Welsh .375 (3-8)

REBELS VS. McCROTTY: Hill .500 (2-4), Huisman .333 (1-3), Hutchinson .250 (1-4), Lafferty .500 (1-2), Voltz .667 (2-3, HR)

UPCOMING PROBABLE PITCHING MATCH-UPS VS. ARKANSAS
Tomorrow: Matt Riethmaier (Jr., RHP, 2-4, 8.19) vs. Joey Cramblitt (Sr., RHP, 4-8, 5.25)
Sunday: Jared Manatt (So., LHP, 2-2, 5.36) vs. TBA

REBELS VS. ARKANSAS: Tonight's meeting is the 27th all-time between Ole Miss and Arkansas in a series that dates back to 1982 ... the Razorbacks lead the series 18-8 ... Arkansas won the first meeting, 7-2, in Fayetteville in 1982, and the two teams did not meet again until the Razorbacks joined the SEC in 1992 ... Arkansas has won 11 of the last 13 meetings dating back to 1995, as the Razorbacks have won four consecutive SEC series from the Rebels ... Ole Miss' last series win came in 1995 in Oxford (2-1) ... the Rebels are 5-7 all-time against the Razorbacks in Oxford and are 3-10 in Fayetteville ... the two schools also met once in Starkville, Miss., at the 1995 SEC Western Division Tournament with Arkansas winning 5-2.

SCOUTING ARKANSAS: Arkansas enters this weekend's series having won five of its last six and six of its last eight, including winning two-of-three from No. 1 ranked South Carolina last weekend in Fayetteville, Ark. ... the Razorbacks are 0-10 this season against the SEC West ... Arkansas is hitting .288 as a team with 33 HRs, and have been outscored 402-362 ... junior OF Jeff Hoefler leads the Razorbacks in hitting with a .352 average ... senior C Greg Blum is batting .346 and has hit a team-high six HRs, and junior C/3B Kyle Washburn has driven in a team-high 42 runs ... Razorback pitchers have a team ERA of 6.36, and opponents are hitting .298 against them with 40 HRs.

AFTER 52 GAMES LAST YEAR: Ole Miss was 30-22 through 52 games in 1999 ... the Rebels were hitting .302 with 73 HRs, 110 doubles, 18 triples and 347 RBI ... they had outscored the opposition 377-302 ... Ole Miss had stolen 34 bases in 60 attempts and grounded into 33 double plays ... Rebel pitchers had a 4.94 ERA, allowing 483 hits, including 36 HRs, walked 226 and had struck out 332 ... Ole Miss had a .962 fielding percentage with 75 errors.

RPI WATCH: According to a simulated RPI released Monday, Ole Miss has a RPI rating of 28, down two spots from the previous week. The Rebels are one of nine SEC teams ranked in the top 50. The others: No. 1 South Carolina, No. 2 LSU, No. 11 Mississippi State, No. 17 Florida, No. 18 Auburn, No. 26 Alabama, No. 30 Georgia, and No. 33 Kentucky. The SEC is ranked as the nation's top conference, followed by the ACC, Colonial, Big 12 and the Trans America Athletic (TAAC).

THE RACE TO BIRMINGHAM: Ole Miss enters tonight's game with a half-game lead over Tennessee for the eighth and final spot to next week's SEC Tournament in Birmingham. Kentucky trails the Rebels by 1.5 games. The Wildcats would be eliminated from contention with any combination of two Ole Miss wins and/or Kentucky losses.

CRAMBLITT, VOLTZ NAMED ACADEMIC ALL-DISTRICT: Senior RHP Joey Cramblitt and 1B Jude Voltz have been selected to the GTE/CoSIDA District VI Academic team. Cramblitt, majoring Banking & Finance and Managerial Finance, from Meridian, Miss., is 4-8 this season with a 5.25 ERA in 13 starts. Voltz, a Criminal Justice major from Metairie, La., is batting .322 and leads the Rebels in several offensive categories, including HRs, 11, and RBI, 45. Both will now be placed on the national ballot for the Academic All-America team to be released June 6.

REBEL NOTES: The Rebels have won nine of their last 11 SEC series dating back to last year when winning the series-opener. When not winning the series-opener, Ole Miss has lost its last eight SEC series dating back to 1998, including last weekend at Georgia. The last time the Rebels dropped the series-opener and still won the series was against LSU in Oxford, May 8-10 ... Head coach Pat Harrison is aiming for career win No. 250 tonight. In eight-plus seasons as a head coach at The Master's College (1988-1990), Pepperdine (1995-1996) and Ole Miss (1997-1999), he has accumulated a mark of 249-222-2 (.529 winning percentage) ... Ole Miss has won the final SEC series of the regular season three straight years. The Rebels defeated Auburn (2-1) in 1997, LSU (2-1) in 1998, and Mississippi State (2-1) last year ... A win tonight would give Ole Miss three consecutive 30-win seasons. The last time the Rebels had three straight 30-win campaigns was from 1993-1995 under Don Kessinger. It would also mark Ole Miss' 11th, 30-win season since 1977 when the Rebels recorded their first under Jake Gibbs ... the Rebels have homered at least once in 13 of the last 14 games ... Ole Miss hit just .198 (19-96) as a team in last weekend's series at Georgia.

TONIGHT'S STARTING PITCHER
#34 Jeff McAvoy, Sr., RHP
(Palmer, Mass./Palmer H.S./Western Carolina)

Will be making his 15th appearance of the year, and his 14th start.

Is 7-5 with a 5.14 ERA (82.1 IP, 47 ER).

Pitched four shutout innings against Nicholls State in the season-opener (2/11), allowing two hits and one walk.

Was credited with the win versus the Colonels after being lifted due to a pitch count.

Allowed just one hit and two runs in six innings of work in his start against Louisiana Tech (2/18).

Fired a four-hit shutout against Vanderbilt (3/24), walking three and fanning five.

The shutout marked the third straight season McAvoy has recorded a shutout during SEC play (LSU on 5/9/98 and Florida on 4/9/99).

Tied a career-high with 10 strikeouts in his start against Kentucky on March 31 (9.0 IP, 6 H, 5 ER, 1 BB).

Became the 10th pitcher in school history to win 20 games in a career with his win over Mississippi State (4/14) in Starkville (7.2 IP, 8 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 SO).

With his first strikeout against the Bulldogs he became the eighth pitcher in school history to record 200 career strikeouts.

Has defeated nationally-ranked Auburn and Mississippi State this season.

Lasted just 2.2 innings at Alabama on April 21 in his shortest outing of the season (L, 9 H, 9 R, 1 BB, 3 SO).

Ole Miss is averaging 6.0 runs per game in McAvoy's 13 starts this season.

Career Numbers:
Has made 50 career appearances and 42 career starts.

42 starts is tied for sixth on the Ole Miss career list with Johnny Adams (1978-1981).

Is 20-16 with a 5.40 ERA (283.1 IP, 170 ER).

20 wins is tied with Mickey Callaway (1994-1996) for ninth on the Ole Miss career list.

283.1 IP is eighth on school's all-time career list.

217 career strikeouts ranks fifth on the Rebel career chart.

Is 10-13 in his career against ranked opponents with a 5.27 ERA (157.0 IP, 92 ER) in 26 appearances, including 23 starts.

LAST START: Suffered a 5-2 loss while throwing his second complete game of the year last Friday at Georgia ... scattered seven hits, allowing five runs -- only one earned -- and walked four ... struck out five ... two errors in the second led to four Georgia runs, three of them unearned ... retired 11 in a row during one stretch from the fourth inning to the eighth inning.

PRIOR START: Gave up eight runs, all earned, one eight hits and four walks in 4 2/3 innings against LSU in Oxford on April 28 ... also struck out three ... LSU scored its first run in the fourth on Wally Pontiff's two-out sac fly that scored Brad Hawpe, who earlier doubled ... was touched for seven runs on six hits in the fifth, as the first five batters of the inning reached safely ... was relieved by Joseph Liberto was two outs in the inning.

McAVOY AND ARKANSAS: Tonight's game will mark McAvoy's third start against the Razorbacks ... he is 0-2 with a 7.30 ERA (12.1 IP, 10 ER) against them ... last year in Fayetteville, allowed seven runs, only four earned, during 6.1 innings of work in suffering an 8-1 loss to Arkansas ... in 1998 in Oxford, McAvoy worked 6.0 innings, allowing 10 runs, six earned, on 11 hits and one walk while striking out seven during a 16-8 loss to the Razorbacks.

McAVOY VS. SEC OPPONENTS: Is 13-11 with a 5.10 ERA (217.0 IP, 123 ER) in 33 career appearances, including 31 starts, against SEC opponents ... is 4-4 with a 4.97 ERA (63.1 IP, 35 ER) against SEC opponents this season.

McAVOY VS. THE SEC WESTERN DIVISION: Is 9-6 with a 5.59 ERA (178.2 IP, 111 ER) in 28 career appearances, including 26 starts, versus teams from the SEC Western Division ... is 2-2 with an 8.28 ERA (25.0 IP, 23 ER) in five appearances, including four starts, this season against the SEC Western Division.

McAVOY MISCELLANEOUS STATS:
Opponents are hitting .265 (86-325) against him.

Is 5-2 with a 3.29 ERA (41.0 IP, 15 ER) in seven starts at home this season.

Is 13-4 with a 3.38 ERA (135.2 IP, 51 ER) in 24 career appearances, including 19 starts, at Oxford-University Stadium/Swayze Field.

Is 2-3 with a 6.97 ERA (41.1 IP, 32 ER) in seven appearances, including six starts, on the road this season.

Is 7-8 with a 7.76 ERA (116.0 IP, 100 ER) in 21 career appearances, including 19 starts, on the road.

Is 0-4 with a 5.40 ERA (31.2 IP, 19 ER) in five career appearances, including four starts, at neutral sites.

Is 2-4 with a 4.19 ERA (53.2 IP, 25 ER) in seven career starts during the month of May.

The University of Mississippi Athletics

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