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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Diamond Rebels Begin Road Trip at No. 8 Louisville
3/9/2015 | Baseball
MIDWEEK SERIES
Date: March 10-11, 2015
Location: Louisville, Ky.
Venue: Jim Patterson Stadium
Capacity: 4,000
Television: None
Radio: Ole Miss Radio Network
David Kellum, play-by-play
Keith Kessinger, analyst
Live Audio: OleMissSports.com
Live Video: OleMissSports.com
Series: Ole Miss leads 5-4
Last Series: March 13-14, 2012
Series tied 1-1
Louisville, Ky.
QUICK HITS
- Ole Miss hits the road for five straight games against two top-10 opponents
- Eight of the Rebels' next nine games are against teams that are ranked in the top 10 nationally
- Two Rebels joined the home run club over the weekend as Henri Lartigue and J.B. Woodman blastic their first homers of the season
- Ole Miss has won the last five games that have occurred in the series before SEC play
- Sophomore Evan Anderson is projected to start a midweek game for the third consecutive week
- Ole Miss starting pitcher Brady Bramlett leads the SEC in strikeouts with 34 after his career-high 12-strikeout performance versus Stetson on Saturday, March 7
- Third baseman Colby Bortles has reached base in each of the last 12 games
- Freshman Kyle Watson continues to pace the Rebels in hitting since moving to the leadoff spot, batting .387 and scoring a team-best 10 runs
- Louisville is the furthest north Ole Miss will travel for a game this regular season
PROBABLE PITCHING MATCHUPS
TUESDAY, 2:00 P.M.
Louisville - TBA
Ole Miss - Evan Anderson, So., LHP, 1-1, 6.75 ERA
NOTING ANDERSON:
- Has pitched in five games this season, including starting a pair of midweek games
- Picked up the win versus Arkansas State, allowing just one run on two hits over five innings of work
- Made a relief appearance in the season opener, lasting 1.1 innings and recording four strikeouts
- Totaled 10 appearances as a freshman, starting five of them
- Posted a 2-0 record with a 2.11 ERA in 2014
- Held opponents to a .134 average as a freshman
WEDNESDAY, 2:00 P.M.
Louisville - TBA
Ole Miss - TBD
A LOOK AT LOUISVILLE
The Cardinals are 10-5 on the season after winning two out of three against No. 10 Miami over the weekend. Louisville is in the midst of 14 straight games at Jim Patterson Stadium and are currently 7-2 during the homestand. Senior Sutton Whiting leads UL at the plate with a .423 batting average; Whiting boasts the most hits on the team with 22 while also pacing the Cardinals with 16 walks on the season to lead to a .571 on-base percentage. Sophomore Corey Ray has been a major factor in the majority of Louisville's runs in 2015 as the team leader in runs (11) and second in RBI (11). As a pitching staff, Louisville holds a 3.43 ERA. Sophomore southpaw Drew Harrington is a threat out of the bullpen with a 0.57 ERA and two saves over six appearances (15.2 innings). Brandon McKay has also made six appearances out of the bullpen, not allowing a run in 11 innings and posting a 2-0 record in relief.
REBELS vs. CARDINALS
Ole Miss holds a slight advantage over Louisville in the all-time series, 5-4, dating back to a dominating 21-1 victory in the first matchup in Oxford, March 3, 1991. The last time these two teams met on the diamond, the Rebels and Cardinals settled for a midweek series split during the 2012 campaign. UL squeaked out a 4-3 win in the series opener before the Ole Miss bats sparked to life for a 18-8 victory in the finale. In the only other series during the Bianco era, the Cardinals took two-of-three from Ole Miss at Oxford-University Stadium in 2010.
GOING THROUGH THE GAUNTLET
Ole Miss has built up a tough non-conference schedule, and things will only get tougher as SEC play begins. Eight of the Rebels' next nine games will be against opponents ranked in the nation's top-10 in multiple polls. Ole Miss will first face Louisville in a pair of games during the middle of the week; the Cardinals are 10-5 and as high as No. 8 in Perfect Game's rankings. Following the midweek matchups, the Rebels open up the SEC schedule with a trip to No. 4 LSU, March 13-15. One weekend later, Ole Miss will welcome the nation's top-ranked team to Swayze Field, hosting No. 1 Florida in a three-game set, March 20-22
BUILDING MOMENTUM TOWARDS SEC PLAY
Under the guidance of Head Coach Mike Bianco, Ole Miss has been able to use the final non-conference weekend series as a building block towards SEC action. The Rebels are 12-3 in the last non-conference weekend series of the season during the Bianco era. In those series, Ole Miss has posted a 36-9 record, including nine three-game sweeps. The Diamond Rebels continued that trend over the weekend, taking two out of three from the Stetson Hatters that included a doubleheader sweep. The Rebels will look to continue building momentum towards SEC play when they travel to Louisville. Ole Miss has won five-straight games in the final series before the beginning of conference action.
PURSUIT OF PERFECTION
After going 9-0 last season in his first season as a Rebel, junior starting pitcher Christian Trent wanted to keep his perfect record intact to start the 2015 season. Pitching out of multiple jams along with help from his offense, the southpaw picked up the 10th victory of his Ole Miss career in a 9-4 victory over William & Mary. Trent lasted five innings, allowing just one run on six hits and recording six strikeouts as well. He followed that up with a nearly identical performance versus Wright State, giving up on run on five hits over six innings. He added nine strikeouts on the night to improve to 2-0 this year. In his last outing, the right-handed went 6.1 innings against Stetson to earn his third win of the season. As a Rebel, Trent now boasts a career record of 12-0 in 21 starts with 109 strikeouts over 134.1 innings of work.
WATSON'S WEEKEND
Ole Miss freshman Kyle Watson continued to be impressive and has been selected as the Rebels' new leadoff hitter by head coach Mike Bianco. Since the switch in the lineup, Watson has done his job by getting on base any way he can whether via the hit or walk. Through 14 games this season, the Southaven, Miss. native leads the team in on base percentage (.558) while also tying for a team-best nine walks and five doubles. Watson also boasts a team-high .387 batting average and has scored 10 times this year, another mark that is tied for tops on the Ole Miss ballclub. Against Stetson over the weekend, Watson went 3-for-4 with a career-high three RBI and two runs scored in an 8-3 win to begin the series. He also moved into scoring position while on the base path, stealing three times throughout the weekend, including a personal-best two in the series finale versus Stetson. Being one of the leaders in several statistical categories this week, Watson has made a smooth transition into the leadoff role.
THE 12 K'S OF BRAMLETT
Sophomore right hander Brady Bramlett struck out a career-high 12 batters to cap off a doubleheader sweep of Stetson on Saturday, March 7. The 12 punchouts were the most in a game by an Ole Miss pitcher since Drew Pomeranz struck out 15 in a win over Georgia on April 9, 2010. It was his second double-digit strikeout game of the season, becoming the first Rebel to record multiple double-digit strikeout games, also since Pomeranz in 2010. Bramlett worked six scoreless innings to earn the win, scattering three hits with one walk, to go along with the 12 strikeouts. He faced four over the minimum and struck out three batters in each of the first, second and sixth innings, including a perfect first inning to start his outing. For the season, Bramlett leads the SEC in strikeouts with 34, including 13 looking which is also the best in the conference.
LET'S PLAY TWO
Through the first four weeks of the season, although not originally scheduled, Ole Miss has played a doubleheader during each weekend. The Rebels are 5-3 in on doubleheader days, winning the second tests all four times. Over the weekend, Ole Miss swept Stetson in a Saturday afternoon doubleheader, breaking out the bats for 22 hits and 15 runs combined between the two games. Playing so many doubleheaders is not familiar territory for the Rebels; the last time Ole Miss played at least four doubleheaders in one full season occurred in 2008 when the Rebels played four twinbills throughout the year. Ole Miss is now scheduled to play five in 2015 with a planned midweek doubleheader set up against UAB, March 24, at Swayze Field.
A START FOR THE RECORD BOOKS
It's hard to put into words the kind of start to a career that Christian Trent has had at Ole Miss. In 21 starts over the past two seasons, the junior southpaw has posted an 12-0 record with a 2.21 ERA over 134.1 innings. With 12 straight victories, Trent is believed to have the best start to a career out of any pitcher is Ole Miss Baseball history. Diving deep into the archives, Buddy Wittichen started off his historic career with 10 consecutive wins before falling to Florida in the 1956 SEC Championship series. Wittichen finished his career with seven more victories and boasts the best winning percentage in program history with a career record of 17-1 (.941).
SEC PLAY ON THE HORIZON
The comfort of home won't last long for the Rebels as they hit the road for five games next week. Ole Miss will kick off the road trip with a trip north to face Louisville in a pair of midweek matchups. Both games are scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. Following the two games against the Cardinals, Ole Miss begins SEC play with a weekend series at LSU. The final two conference battles versus the Tigers will be nationally-televised on the SEC Network.
