The University of Mississippi Athletics
Baseball Game Notes
4/19/2002 | Baseball
April 19, 2002
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Ole Miss Game Notes in PDF Format
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GAME DAY INFORMATION
Date: Friday, April 19, 2002
Time: 4 p.m.
Site: Sewell-Thomas Stadium * Tuscaloosa, Ala.
RECORDS
| TEAM | W | L | T | PCT. | SEC | NON-CONF. | HOME | AWAY* | STRK |
| Ole Miss | 30 | 8 | 0 | .789 | 10-5 | 19-3 | 24-4 | 6-4 | W3 |
| Alabama | 33 | 5 | 0 | .868 | 12-3 | 21-2 | 23-0 | 8-5 | W10 |
* - includes neutral site games.
TODAY'S PROBABLE PITCHING MATCH-UP
| TEAM | No. | Name | Yr. | L/R | IP | W | L | SV | ERA | BB | SO | VS. OPPONENT |
| UM | 21 | J.R. Pickens | Jr. | R | 66.2 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 2.97 | 16 | 59 | First meeting |
| ALA | 18 | Lance Cormier | Sr. | R | 77.1 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 2.21 | 12 | 57 |
UPCOMING PROBABLE PITCHING MATCH-UPS (RADIO/TV)
Tomorrow: Pete Montrenes (Sr., RHP, 8-2, 3.56) vs. Jeffrey Norris (So., LHP, 3-0, 2.22) - Ole Miss Radio Network, 1:45 p.m.
Sunday: Alan Horne (Fr., RHP, 2-1, 5.27) vs. Shane Sanders (Sr., RHP, 5-1, 3.86) - Ole Miss Radio Network, 1:45 p.m.
REBEL GAME NOTES
AT A GLANCE: The top teams in the Southeastern Conference will open a three-game conference series today at 4 p.m., when the No. 9 Ole Miss Rebels (30-8, 10-5 SEC) travel to Tuscaloosa, Ala., to face the No. 2 Alabama Crimson Tide (33-5, 12-3 SEC) at Sewell-Thomas Stadium. The Rebels enter this afternoon's game winners of 15 of their last 16 games, and 17 of their last 19. Junior right-hander J.R. Pickens (6-2, 2.97) is scheduled to start today for the Rebels. Alabama enters the contest having won 10 consecutive games, and is a perfect 23-0 at home this season. Senior right-hander Lance Cormier (8-0, 2.21) is slated to draw the start for the Crimson Tide. Today's game, and all three games this weekend, can be heard on stations along the Ole Miss Radio Network, beginning at 3:45 p.m., with David Kellum and Gary Darby. This afternoon's broadcast can also be heard over the official Ole Miss Athletic web site, www.OleMissSports.com.
LAST TIME OUT: Jonathan Swearingen's grand slam in the sixth inning capped a five-run inning and gave Ole Miss an 8-0 lead as the Rebels defeated Arkansas State 8-1 Tuesday evening at Oxford-University Stadium/Swayze Field, to a complete a nine-game home stand with an 8-1 record. Kyle Bateman (3-0) pitched four scoreless innings and was designated the pitcher of record, allowing two hits and striking out four. Dustin Cliburn went 3-for-5 as 10 different Rebels recorded at least one hit, and Ole Miss out-hit ASU 16-5 on the night.
HUTCHINSON HONORED: Senior OF Burney Hutchinson was named the SEC's Player of the Week on Monday, by the conference office. In five games last week, Hutchinson hit .524 (11x21) with three RBIs, four doubles, and seven runs scored. In this past weekend's three-game series with Auburn, Hutchinson was 7x13 at the plate with three RBIs. He also recorded a .714 slugging percentage and a .545 on-base average for the week.
IN THE POLLS: Ole Miss remained at No. 9 in this week's Collegiate Baseball Top 30, while moving to No. 12 in both the Baseball Weekly/ESPN Coaches and Baseball America Top 25 polls. The Rebels are up one spot from last week in the Baseball Weekly/ESPN rankings, and three places in the Baseball America poll. Ole Miss dropped three spots in this week's National Collegiate Baseball Writers' Association poll to No. 11 after being ranked No. 8 last week ... Alabama is ranked No. 2 in the Collegiate Baseball Top 30, and No. 4 by both Baseball Weekly and Baseball America.
SATURDAY'S GAME TIME CHANGED: Due to Alabama hosting the NCAA Women's Gymnastics Championships this weekend in Tuscaloosa, tomorrow's game has been moved from 4 p.m., to 2 p.m. Sunday's series finale is still scheduled for a 2 p.m., start.
OLE MISS ADDS HOME GAME: Ole Miss will host McNeese State on Tuesday, May 14 at 6:30 p.m., in a make-up game for the Rebels' March 12 game at Louisiana-Monroe being canceled due to inclement weather. Since the ULM game was not originally an Ole Miss home game, all season ticket holders will be admitted free at the gate upon presentation of a torn or unused ticket stub from any earlier played game this season. If you are a season ticket holder, and do not have any unused tickets or stubs, see the Swayze Field Ticket Office on game day for your admission pass. The season ticket holder will have the right to sit in the seats they purchased for the season. Tickets will also be available for purchase at the Ticket Office.
AFTER 38 GAMES LAST SEASON: The Rebels were 26-11-1 after 38 games last season ... Ole Miss was hitting .293 (378x1,288) with 66 doubles, 14 triples, 34 home runs and 215 RBIs ... The Rebels stole 29 bases in 42 attempts and grounded into 30 double plays ... They were outscoring their opponents 251-199 ... Rebel pitchers had a 4.19 ERA (335.0 IP, 156 ER), allowing 340 hits, including 26 home runs, walked 125 and had struck out 254 ... Ole Miss had committed 55 errors in 38 games.
REBELS VS. CRIMSON TIDE: This afternoon's meeting is the 296th all-time between the Ole Miss Rebels and Alabama Crimson Tide ... Alabama leads the series 172-121-2 ... The two teams have split the last four SEC series dating back to 1998, and Ole Miss has won seven of the 13 meetings during that time ... The home team has won the last four series ... Alabama was the last road team to win a series, sweeping the Rebels in a three-game series in 1997 ... The Rebels are 66-88-2 all-time against the Crimson Tide in Oxford, 52-79 in Tuscaloosa, and 3-5 at neutral sites.
REBEL NOTEBOOK:
* The Ole Miss pitching staff has recorded a 1.78 ERA (91.0 IP, 18 ER) during the month of April.
* The Rebels' 17-3 record since being swept at Florida, March 15-17, marks their best 20-game stretch since an 18-2 run in 1964.
* Ole Miss has won four straight SEC series since being swept by Florida to open conference play, marking the first time the Rebels have won four consecutive conference series since winning five straight in 1995.
* Ole Miss enters this weekend's series, ranked second in the SEC in both team batting (.331) and team pitching (3.70 ERA) ... The Rebels are 11th in the conference in team fielding percentage, having committed an SEC-high 70 errors in 38 games for a team fielding percentage of .953.
* The Rebels enter the weekend tied for second in the SEC in team on-base percentage with a .413 average, and Ole Miss hitters are tied with South Carolina for having struck out the least amount of times with 189.
* Rebel pitchers have limited their opponents to less than 10 hits in five of the last six games and in 10 of the last 12.
* The Rebels are 3-7 in their last 10 SEC road games dating back to last year's series finale at Vanderbilt ... Dating back to the 1999 Auburn series, Ole Miss has lost 10 of its last 14 SEC road series, posting a 17-25 (.405 winning percentage) during that span.
* Last weekend's series win over Auburn, marked the first time since the final weekend of the 1998 season against LSU, that Ole Miss had won a conference series after dropping the series opener, snapping a string of 15 consecutive SEC series losses when dropping game one.
* Since the 1999 Alabama series, Ole Miss has won 13 of its last 14 SEC series when winning the conference opener. The only series loss during that span came at Mississippi State in 2000, when the Rebels took game one, 4-1, before losing the next two games, 10-4 and 12-3.
SMITH SETS OLE MISS FRESHMAN MARKS FOR RBIs, TIES HIT RECORD: Freshman outfielder Seth Smith enters this afternoon's game having already broken the Ole Miss freshman record for RBIs in a season with 38, and needs one hit to break the school's freshman hit record. He went 2x4 Tuesday night versus Arkansas State to record his 54th and 55th hits of the season and tie the Ole Miss freshman record set current sophomore Matt Tolbert last season. Smith drove in three runs against Memphis on April 9 to break Tolbert's freshman RBI record of 35. Smith enters today's game two home runs shy of Tolbert's school freshman record of six, two stolen bases shy of Tolbert's record of six, and seven total bases short of tying Tolbert's record of 85.
REBELS JOIN 30-WIN CLUB: Ole Miss' 8-1 win over Arkansas State Tuesday night made the Rebels the nation's 13th team to win 30 games. On Wednesday, four other schoools joined the 30-win club, bringing a total of 17 schools with at least 30 wins heading into this weekend's action. The following is a list of the nation's 30-win teams:
School (Conference) W-LFlorida State (ACC) 35-12Richmond (Atlantic 10) 33-5Alabama (Southeastern) 33-5Georgia Tech (ACC) 32-5Florida Atlantic (Atlantic Sun) 32-6Rice (Western Athletic) 32-8Clemson (ACC) 31-5Southern-BR (Southwestern Athletic) 31-5Stetson (Atlantic Sun) 31-6James Madison (Colonial) 31-8Texas (Big 12) 31-10Wake Forest (ACC) 30-6Northwestern (LA) State (Southland) 30-8Ole Miss (Southeastern) 30-8San Jose State (WAC) 30-12Bethune-Cookman (Mid-Eastern Athletic) 30-13Texas A&M (Big 12) 30-13
TUESDAY'S WIN SECURES FIFTH STRAIGHT 30-WIN SEASON: Tuesday's win over Arkansas State secured Ole Miss' fifth straight 30-win season for the first time in school history. Prior to the current five-year run, the Rebels' longest streak of consecutive 30-win seasons was three from 1993-1995, under former Ole Miss All-American Don Kessinger.
2002 TEAM FASTEST TO 30 WINS: Ole Miss' 8-1 win over Arkansas State Tuesday gave the Rebels' their 30th win in the 38th game of the season, to make the 2002 team as the fastest in school history to reach the 30-win mark. Prior the 2002 team, the 1986 squad was the fastest to reach the 30-win plateau, as they did so in 41 games. The 1995 squad, which is the only Ole Miss team to win 40 games in a season, reached the 30-win mark in the 42nd game of the season.
BIANCO HAS CONSECUTIVE 30-WIN STREAK OF HIS OWN: In addition to Tuesday's win over Arkansas State securing a fifth straight 30-win season for Ole Miss, the victory also gave Head Coach Mike Bianco his fifth 30-win season in as many years as a collegiate head coach. Bianco guided McNeese State to three consecutive 30-win campaigns from 1998-2000 before guiding the Rebels to back-to-back seasons of at least 30 victories in 2001 and 2002.
REBELS SET ATTENDANCE MARK: Through this past Tuesday's game with Arkansas State, Ole Miss has drawn 66,391 fans in 28 home dates to set a new Oxford-University Stadium/Swayze Field attendance record, breaking the mark of 58,929 set last season in 31 home dates. The Rebels are averaging 2,371 fans per home game and entered the week ranked sixth in the SEC for average attendance per game. Ole Miss is on pace to break the school record of 2,100 fans per home in 1999. The Rebels have filled Swayze Field to an average of 67.7 percent of its 3,500-seat capacity each home game and was fourth in the SEC entering the week. The following shows SEC attendance rankings, based on percentage of capacity filled, as of April 15:
No. Team (Capacity) Total Avg. Pct.1. LSU (7,760) 177,990 7,416 95.62. Alabama (6,118) 114,516 5,205 85.13. Auburn (3,806) 71,522 3,110 85.14. Ole Miss (3,500) 64,827 2,401 68.65. South Carolina (6,000) 66,917 2,909 48.56. Miss. State (15,000) 149,013 6,478 43.27. Georgia (3,291) 21,199 1,413 42.98. Florida (5,000) 45,808 1,832 36.69. Vanderbilt (1,581) 7,458 532 33.610. Tennessee (4,000) 26,620 1,157 28.911. Kentucky (2,500) 9,890 532 19.812. Arkansas (7,000) 16,025 1,068 15.3
NOTE: Kentucky played some of its home games this season at Lexington's Applebee's Park while renovations were ungoing at its campus facility, Cliff Hagan Stadium.
SMITH EARNS MIDSEASON HONORS FROM BASEBALL AMERICA: Freshman outfielder Seth Smith was named a Midseason Freshman All-America by Baseball America on April 12 in its midseaon review issue. Smith currently leads the Rebels with a .423 batting average, has hit four home runs, and driven in a team-leading 38 runs, while tying the Ole Miss freshman record for hits and breaking the Rebels' freshman mark of RBIs. His .423 batting average leads the SEC entering the weekend.
TODAY'S STARTING PITCHER
#21 J.R. Pickens (6-1, 210, Jr., RHP)
* Will be making his 11th appearance of the season, including his 10th start ... Has a 6-2 record with a 2.97 ERA (66.2 IP, 22 ER).
* 2.97 ERA ranks fifth in the SEC entering the weekend.
* Has the fifth lowest batting-average-against in the SEC at .223.
* Has 59 strikeouts, tying for fifth in the conference.
* Is tied for sixth in the SEC in innings pitched and is tied for seventh in wins.
* Won his first three decisions of the year against Jacksonville State (2/16), Eastern Illinois (3/2) and Indiana State (3/9).
* Turned in a quality start (at least 6 IP, 4 ER or less) in 7-of-9 starts this season. * Made his Ole Miss debut in a start against Jacksonville State on Feb. 16, allowing three runs, one earned, on three hits and three walks over seven innings to earn the decision in an 8-4 win ... Also fanned eight against the Gamecocks.
* Worked 8.1 innings against South Alabama (2/23), carrying a shutout into the ninth inning ... Was charged with four runs on five hits and one walk, and struck out eight in taking a no decision as the Jaguars rallied for six runs in the ninth to tie game and force extra innings.
* Struck out a season-high 10 in a start against Eastern Illinois (8.0 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 0 BB).
* Made his first career relief appearance at Louisiana-Monroe (3/13), working a perfect ninth inning.
* Won three consecutive starts against LSU (3/22), Kentucky (3/30) and Vanderbilt (4/5).
* Recorded his first career complete game against LSU, allowing three runs, two earned, on eight hits and three walks, while striking out eight in a 9-3 win.
* Pitched eight scoreless innings last Friday against Vanderbilt (4 H, 2 BB, 2 SO).
LAST START: Had his shortest outing of the season last Friday against Auburn, as he was lifted after 5.2 innings ... Allowed 10 runs, four earned, on 11 hits and one walk, and struck out four in suffering the loss in the Rebels' 10-3 defeat ... Retired six of the first seven batters he faced ... Auburn tied the game 1-1 in the third on Sean Gamble's sac fly to center that scored Chuck Jeroloman, who reached on a one-out double ... Javon Moran then reached on a two-out error by first baseman Bryce Morrison to put runners on first and second and set-up Bobby Huddleston's three-run home run to make it 4-1 ... Jeroloman hit a two-out home run in the fourth to give the Tigers a 6-1 lead ... Scott Schade led-off the sixth with a home run to extend Auburn's lead to 7-1 ... After the retiring the next two batters, Jonathan Schuerholtz reached on an error by third baseman Clint Farrar ... Gamble then walked and Moran followed with a single to center that scored Schuerholtz ... Was then relieved by Nick Bradshaw.
PREVIOUS START: Pitched eight scoreless innings against Vanderbilt on April 5 ... Scattered four hits and walked two, while striking out two ... Threw 108 pitches, 64 for strikes ... Retired the Commodores in order in the sixth and seventh innings ... Was relieved at the start of the ninth by Nick Bradshaw with the Rebels comfortably leading 9-0.
PICKENS VERSUS ALABAMA: Tonight will mark Pickens' first career appearance against the Crimson Tide.
PICKENS VERSUS THE SEC: Is 3-2 with a 3.72 ERA (36.1 IP, 15 ER) in five conference starts.
PICKENS MISCELLANEOUS:
* Opponents are hitting .223 (58x260) against him with four HRs ... Lefties are batting .190 (16x84) against him and right-handers are batting .239 (42x176) with four homers.
* Ole Miss is 7-2 in games started by Pickens ... The Rebels are scoring an average of 7.8 runs per start by Pickens.
* Is 4-1 with a 3.35 ERA (43.0 IP, 16 ER) in six day time starts.
* Is 2-1 with a 2.28 ERA (23.2 IP, 6 ER) in four appearances at night, including three starts.
* Is 5-1 with a 2.25 ERA (52.0 IP, 13 ER) in seven starts at Oxford-University Stadium/Swayze Field.
* Is 1-1 with a 5.52 ERA (14.2 IP, 9 ER ) in three appearances, including two starts, on the road.
