The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss Moves To No. 6 In The National Polls
4/19/2004 | Baseball
April 19, 2004
OXFORD, Miss. - Ole Miss moved up one spot to No. 6 in this week's Sports Weekly/ESPN Coaches Top 25 and two places to No. 6 in the latest Baseball America Top 25 polls, while the Rebels gained two spots to move from No. 9 to No. 7 in the Collegiate Baseball Top 30, released Monday afternoon.
The Rebels are 31-6 on the season and 11-4 in the Southeastern Conference after sweeping Tennessee this past weekend in Oxford. Ole Miss will hold a one-game lead over Arkansas for the SEC Western Division and overall SEC lead entering this weekend's three-game conference series at Georgia.
Ole Miss will step out of SEC play Tuesday night to host in-state rival Southern Miss at 6:30 p.m., at Oxford-University Stadium/Swayze Field. It will be the second of three scheduled meetings between the two teams this season. The Golden Eagles defeated the Rebels 8-7 on Jarrett Hoffpauir's RBI single in the bottom of the ninth in Hattiesburg back on March 23. Ole Miss and USM are also scheduled to meet on April 27 at Smith-Wills Stadium in Jackson.
Sophomore left-hander Matt Maloney is scheduled to start on the mound for Ole Miss. Maloney is 1-0 with a 2.03 ERA in four appearances, including two starts. He took a no decision in his last start against Arkansas State on April 14, allowing three runs, two earned, on seven hits and struck out five over six innings in the Rebels' 9-8 win.
Sophomore first baseman Stephen Head continues to lead the Rebels at the plate with a .399 average. He also leads the team with 10 HRs and 44 RBIs. He enters the week tied for third in the SEC in batting average, tied for fifth in RBIs and tied for seventh in HRs.
Southern Miss will bring a 29-8 record into Tuesday's game. The Golden Eagles are ranked No. 11 by Baseball America, No. 13 by Sports Weekly/ESPN and No. 23 by Collegiate Baseball.
The Golden Eagles are hitting .327 as a team and are led by junior second baseman Jarrett Hoffpauir and junior shortstop Matt Shepherd, who are batting .420 and .407, respectively. Hoffpauir has also driven in a team-high 60 runs, while senior outfielder Ryan Frith is hitting .349 with a team-high 14 HRs.
Freshman right-hander Mike Cashion is slated to draw his first start of the year for USM. He is 1-1 with one save and a 1.47 ERA over 18.1 innings during 12 relief appearances this season.
Following Tuesday's game, Ole Miss will travel to Jonesboro, Ark., for a 6:30 p.m., contest with Arkansas State Wednesday evening. The contest will be the third meeting of the year between the two teams. The Indians handed the Rebels their first loss of the season on March 10, 11-7, to snap Ole Miss' 11-game win streak to start the season. The Rebels then rallied for three runs in the bottom of the ninth to pull out a 9-8 win on April 14.
