The University of Mississippi Athletics
Rebels and Razorbacks in National Spotlight This Weekend
3/25/2015 | Baseball
WEEKEND SERIES
Matchup: Ole Miss (13-12, 3-3 SEC) at Arkansas (11-12, 1-5 SEC)
Date: March 26-28, 2015
Location: Fayetteville, Ark.
Venue: Baum Stadium
Capacity: 10,737
Television: ESPNU/SEC Network
Dave Neal, play-by-play
Kyle Peterson, analyst
Radio: Ole Miss Radio Network
David Kellum, play-by-play
Keith Kessinger, analyst
Live Audio: OleMissSports.com
Series: Arkansas leads 43-36
Last Game: May 23, 2014 (SEC Tournament)
Arkansas won 8-7
Hoover, Ala.
QUICK HITS
- Thursday's game will be broadcast on ESPNU, while Friday night's contest will be a SEC Network telecast
- This weekend's series is the first of four Thurday-Saturday SEC series for Ole Miss
- Ole Miss ended a six-game homestand, posting a 3-3 record that including two wins over No. 1 Florida
- In his five SEC games, senior Sikes Orvis is hitting .421 with three doubles, two home runs and nine RBI, all team highs.
- With six home runs on the season, Orvis is tied for the second-most out of all SEC hitters
- Brady Bramlett is tied for fifth in the SEC with 42 strikeouts and Cameron Dishon in fifth with 10 steals
- The Rebels have won the past three regular-season series versus Arkansas
- Christian Trent and Brady Bramlett, the top-two arms in the Ole Miss rotation, are a combined 7-2 in 12 starts this season
- Ole Miss has played the nation's toughest schedule; opponents this year are a combined 156-73-1 (.680)
PROBABLE PITCHING MATCHUPS
THURSDAY, 6:30 P.M.
Arkansas - Dominic Taccolini, So., RHP, 4-2, 3.21 ERA
Ole Miss - Christian Trent, Jr., LHP, 4-1, 3.11 ERA
NOTING TRENT:
- Pitched 6.1 innings and allowed one run on three hits to defeat No. 1 Florida, going 4.1 innings without giving up a hit
- Has made 23 career starts, recording 115 strikeouts over 147.2 innings
- Won his first 12 games as a Rebel, the best start to a career by any pitcher in Ole Miss baseball history
- Earned a win against Wright State, striking out nine over six innings and surrendering one run on five hits
- Picked up a victory in the season opener, going 5.0 innings and allowing one run on six hits
- Named to the 50-player preseason Golden Spikes Award watch list
FRIDAY 6:00 P.M.
Arkansas - Trey Killian, Jr., RHP, 0-1, 2.16 ERA
Ole Miss - Brady Bramlett, So., RHP, 2-1, 1.55 ERA
NOTING BRAMLETT:
- Through his first two career SEC starts, only allowed two earned runs in 13 innings
- Pitched a career-high seven innings, without allowing an earned run, at No. 1 LSU
- Went six scoreless innings against the Hatters, giving up just three hits and one walk to go along with his 12 strikeouts
- Only Rebel to record 12 strikeouts in one game as well as double digit strikeouts in two or more starts since Drew Pomeranz in 2010
- Struck out eight batters in the win over William & Mary without allowing a walk
- Returned to the mound this season after missing the end of the 2013 season and the entire 2014 season due to injury
SATURDAY 2:00 P.M.
Arkansas - TBA
Ole Miss - TBA
A LOOK AT ARKANSAS
The Razorbacks are currently 11-12 this season following a 5-4 loss to Memphis on Tuesday night. After facing one another in Little Rock, Ark., the two teams will square off in Memphis, Tenn. tonight at 5:30 p.m. In SEC play, Arkansas posts a 1-5 record due to getting swept at the hands of Vanderbilt as well as dropping two-of-three against LSU. Sophomore Dominic Taccolini has been the ace of the Arkansas pitching staff, 4-2 on the season with a 3.21 ERA. Junior Trey Killian has emerged to get the ball in Friday night's game against Ole Miss, having made three starts in 2015 up to this point. Four Razorbacks are hitting over .300 as Arkansas is batting at a .291 clip as a team led by a .338 average from junior Bobby Wernes. Sophomore Andrew Benintendi paces Arkansas with 26 hits, 22 RBI and six home runs to go along a slugging percentage of .613.
NO NEED TO PANIC
Fans do not need to panic about the Rebels' 13-12 record this season. Ole Miss has played the nation's toughest schedule with the opposition posting a combined .680 winning percentage. Another thing to remember is the 2006 Rebels started out the season with a 13-11 record, including 1-5 in SEC play. That team finished with a 44-22 record, winning the SEC Tournament and a NCAA Regional before becoming one victory away from advancing to Omaha.
GOLSAN NAMED SEC FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK
Freshman Will Golsan was named SEC Freshman of the Week, the conference office announced Monday, March 23. The honor is the first for Golsan in his young Ole Miss career as well as the Rebels' first weekly accolade of the 2015 season. Golsan led Ole Miss with a .389 average at the plate this past week. He recorded three multi-hit games throughout the week and scored a team-high four runs as the Rebels went 3-1, including taking 2-of-3 from No. 1 Florida. Golsan started the week by helping spark a ninth-inning rally before scoring the game-winning run against UAPB, March 18. In the two victories over the top-ranked Gators, the Columbus, Miss. native went a combined 5-for-9 at the dish. Golsan also recorded the first two steals of his career during the week. The freshman has worked his way into the lineup, moving from DH to the starter at third base over the past eight games. Golsan is now leads the team in batting average this season, hitting at a .304 clip and an even better .333 average during SEC play.
WEATHERING THE STORM
One of two captains, senior Scott Weathersby has been a leader to a youthful Ole Miss baseball team. On the mound this season, Weathersby has posted a 2.16 ERA in seven appearances. Through 16.2 innings of work, he has struck out 19 batters, while only walking three. Perhaps the most impressive statistic of all by the Hattiesburg, Miss. native is that he is holding opposing hitters to just a .111 average at the plate. Weathersby's veteran presence on the mound showed against No. 1 Florida Friday night, March 20, as he retired each of the eight batters he faced, stranding the inherited runner in the seventh and working a perfect eighth and ninth to earn his second save of the season.
PACKING A 1-2 PUNCH
Junior Christian Trent and sophomore Brady Bramlett have been a dynamic duo on the mound throughout the Rebels' first six weekend series. They have both made five quality starts out of six starts this season. The pair of Rebels are a combined 7-2 this season; Trent is 4-1 with a 3.11 ERA, while Bramlett posts an impressive 1.54 ERA to go along with his 3-1 record. Only 19 earned runs have been surrendered over 72.2 innings between the two starting pitchers. Trent retired the first eight batters he faced and went 4.1 innings before allowing his first hit in a win over Florida; he allowed just one run on three hits with a walk and three strikeouts in 6.1 innings of work. Bramlett followed his teammate's outing by going six innings strong and giving up two runs (one earned) on six hits with two walks and six strikeouts to also collect a victory. Through his first two career SEC starts, both against a top-ranked team, Bramlett has allowed just two earned runs in 13.0 innings of work. He also has 42 strikeouts on the season, compared to just six walks, in 35 innings of work.
SIKES VS. THE SEC
Senior Sikes Orvis, named to Preseason All-SEC, has lived up to the expectations through the first two weekends of conference action. Orvis delivered the game-tying and game-winning doubles against LSU in a 14-inning thriller before blasting a 431-foot home run in the series finale. The Orlando, Fla. native continued his tear at the plate on Saturday in game one versus No. 1 Florida, going 2-for-2 with a double, home run and four RBI. Through the first two weekends of SEC play, Orvis is hitting .421 with three doubles, two home runs and nine RBI, all team highs. Out of six games, Orvis has seen action in four complete games as well as just three innings in another.
THE GAUNTLET
The Rebels have gone through the gauntlet thus far with a difficult non-conference schedule as well as facing two teams ranked No. 1 to begin SEC play. According to NCAA statistics, Ole Miss has had the nation's toughest schedule to this point as the Rebels' opponents are a combined 156-73-1 (.680) this season. Through 25 games, 11 of those contests came against top-15 teams, including six against No. 1 teams. The Rebels are 5-6 in games against ranked teams, but most recently took two-of-three from No. 1 Florida. Ole Miss has played eight of its last 11 games against teams ranked in the top 10, posted an even 4-4 record in those matchups. The brutal schedule to start the season has made a young Ole Miss team grow up fast, and the Rebels could benefit from the pressure as the season rolls along.
PROTECTING SWAYZE AGAINST THE BEST
Swayze Field has proven over the years to be a tough place to play for some of the nation's top teams, and No. 1 Florida became the latest team to experience the difficulty of facing the Rebels on their home turf. Ole Miss won the first two games against the Gators to clinch the series, improving to 4-0 in home series against No. 1 teams over the past seven seasons. The stretch also included series wins over No. 1 Georgia in 2009, No. 1 South Carolina in 2011 and No. 1 Florida in 2012. With the most recent series win, Ole Miss has won 12 of its last 18 home series against top-10 teams, dating back to 2003.
DISHON DOING HIS JOB
Coming off the bench primarily as a pinch runner during the 2014 season, junior Cameron Dishon has comfortably filled his new role as the Diamond Rebels' starting right fielder. Still aggressive on the base path, Dishon leads the team on the base path with 10 steals, while he's third on the team with a batting average of .279, bolstering the bottom of the Ole Miss lineup. The Beaumont, Texas native has also stepped up for his club when called upon to advance the runner; Dishon is second in the SEC with six sacrifice bunts, a number that also ranks 26th in the nation. In the Rebels' series against No. 8 Louisville, Dishon led Ole Miss at the plate, going 4-for-9 with two runs and one RBI. The successful series included the first home run of his career on a solo blast to left field. Dishon was busy in the field during the victory over the Cardinals, catching nine flyballs to account for one-third of Louisville's outs. This season, he has made 57 putouts without an error in right field, the only Rebel in the everyday lineup that has not had a miscue.
LET'S PLAY TWO
Through the first six weeks of the season, although not originally scheduled, Ole Miss has played a doubleheader on five of those six weekends. Following the pair of games against UAB, the sixth doubleheader of the season, the Rebels are 6-6 on doubleheader days. Over the weekend, Ole Miss split a twinbill against No. 1 Florida, winning the first contest to clinch the series. Playing so many doubleheaders is not familiar territory for the Rebels; the last time Ole Miss played at least six doubleheaders in one full season occurred in 1993 when the Rebels played eight twinbills throughout the year.
MIDWEEK IN MEMPHIS
Ole Miss will remaining away from home for its midweek game next week, making its shortest road trip of the season. The Rebels will battle Memphis, March 31, at AutoZone Park, home of the Memphis Redbirds, Triple-A affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals. First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m. CT. The contest will wrap up four straight games on the road before Ole Miss returns to Swayze Field to host the University of Tennessee for another SEC weekend series.
