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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Seventh-Ranked Rebels Travel To Auburn For Weekend Series
4/30/2009 | Baseball
#7 Ole Miss (33-13, 13-8 SEC) at Auburn (27-19,8-13 SEC)
Auburn, Ala. Plainsman Park
May 1-3 6:00 p.m./6:00 p.m./1:00 p.m.
Radio: Full Network coverage on the Ole Miss Radio Network
Announcers: David Kellum (play-by-play) and Gary Darby (color)
Television: Saturday and Sunday's games on CSS
XM Radio: None
Live Internet Stats/Broadcasts: www.OleMissSports.com
PROBABLE PITCHING MATCH-UPS:
FRIDAY, 6:00 P.M.
AU - Jon Luke Jacobs, Fr., RHP
OM - Drew Pomeranz, Soph., LHP
NOTING POMERANZ: Sophomore Drew Pomeranz takes the mound against the Tigers on Friday night with a 4-2 record and a 3.49 ERA as he has struck out 51 and walked 22 on the season. In his last start against #1 Georgia, Pomeranz suffered the loss as he allowed three runs on seven hits in 6.1 innings of work. Pomeranz struck out eight in the outing and left the game with one man on who went on to score with a grand slam three batters later. It will be Pomeranz' 10th start of the year. Opponents are hiting .242 against Pomeranz.
SATURDAY, 6:00 P.M. - CSS
AU - Grant Dayton, Soph., LHP
OM - Phillip Irwin, Jr., RHP
NOTING IRWIN: Phillip Irwin makes his 10th start of the season and 11th overall appearance when he takes the mound for the Rebels on Saturday. To date, Irwin has posted a 5-3 record and worked a team-leading 58.1 innings. In that time he has struck out 39 and walked 13 while allowing only 26 earned runs out of 35 runs scored with Irwin on the mound.
SUNDAY, 1:00 P.M. - CSS
AU - Dexter Price, Fr., RHP
OM - Scott Bittle, Sr., RHP
NOTING BITTLE: Scott Bittle enters the weekend making his sixth start of the season since moving to the starting role against #2 LSU on March 29. In that time, Bittle is 4-0 with a 1.29 ERA and has held opponents to a .153 batting average against with only five runs allowed on 18 hits. On the season, Bittle has posted 68 strikeouts to lead the team and walked 22 batters. He is 5-2 on the season with three saves and a complete-game shutout of Kentucky..
REBELS VS. RANKED FOES IN 2009:
When the Rebels and TCU faced-off on February 28, it was the first ranked foe of the season for Ole Miss. The Rebels by a score 19-13. Ole Miss picked up its first win over a top 25 foe with an 8-7 win over Alabama in the Friday night game and is 7-6 against ranked foes this season.
REBELS IN THE RANKINGS:
For the sixth straight season Ole Miss opened the year ranked in the preseason polls. Currently, the Rebels are ranked as high as 7th (Baseball America) and appear in the top 15 of all five of the major collegiate baseball polls.
LAST TIME OUT VS. AUBURN:
Ole Miss and Auburn faced off in Oxford last season with the Rebels claiming the weekend series 2-1 with wins on Friday and Sunday. Ole Miss downed the Tigers 7-6 on Friday night behind a three-run walk-off home run from Tim Ferguson. Auburn then answered on Saturday, pulling out an 11-1 win over the Rebels to even the series at a game each. The Rebels then claimed the series on Sunday 5-2 as Scott Bittle picked up the win in relief as he held the Tigers off the board for the final 4.0 innings and the Rebel bats came alive for the series win.
OLE MISS VS. AUBURN UNDER BIANCO:
The Rebels have been successful against the Tigers under head coach Mike Bianco as Ole Miss leads the series 14-10 with Bianco at the helm of the program. The Rebels have won three straight series with the last series loss coming in 2005 with Auburn picking up the 2-1 win. Ole Miss has won five of eight series with the only sweep for either team coming in the 2001 season when Ole Miss swept the Tigers.
THE REBELS VS. AUBURN:
Ole Miss and Auburn have faced off 142 times with the Rebels trailing in the all-time series 70-71-1. The two teams first met in 1938 and split the two-game series.
A LOOK AT THE TIGERS:
Auburn enters the weekend coming off a pair of mid-week wins over Troy after being swept on the road at LSU in SEC play last weekend. The Tigers are 27-19 on the year and 8-13 in SEC play. Joseph Sanders leads the Auburn batters with a .329 average, 18 home runs and 54 RBI. As a team, the Tigers are hitting .295 and have tallied 97 home runs. The Tiger pitching staff holds an ERA of 6.12 and have posted 342 strikeouts on the year while walking 192 batters. They have allowed 320 runs on 536 hits this season as opponents hit .322 against Auburn.
