The University of Mississippi Athletics
Softball Welcomes Arkansas for Big SEC Weekend Series
4/21/2016 | Softball
Games 47-49
Ole Miss (31-15, 6-9 SEC) vs. Arkansas (17-29, 1-14 SEC)
Dates: April 22-24, 2016
First Pitch: 6 p.m. (Friday), 7 p.m. (Saturday), 1 p.m. (Sunday)
Location: Oxford, Miss.
Venue: Ole Miss Softball Complex
Capacity: 1,000
Dimensions: L-200, C-220, R-200
TV: SEC Network+ (Friday), SEC Network (Saturday), SEC Network+ (Sunday)
Will Kollmeyer, play-by-play (Fri., Sun.) | Melissa Lee, play-by-play (Sat.)
Brittany McKinney, analyst (Fri.) | Leigh Ross, analyst (Sat.) | Graham Doty, analyst (Sun.)
Series: Arkansas leads, 31-25
Last Series: March 27-29, 2015
Ole Miss swept
Fayetteville, Ark.
Live stats: Twitter Updates: @OleMissSoftball
PROMOTIONS (FREE admission to all Ole Miss Softball home games)
Friday, April 22
- Firefighter Friday
- Earth Day Bag Giveaway
- Madi Osias Senior Day
Saturday, April 23
- FREE Crawfish
- Natalie Martinez Senior Day
- National Anthem feature performance by Ole Miss Baseball's Brady Bramlett
Sunday, April 24
- Strikeout Cancer Game
- Dad and Daughter Day (FREE t-shirt to first 150 fans)
- Postgame autographs
LEADING OFF
- Ole Miss heads into the Arkansas series having won two of its last three SEC series.
- The Rebels are in search of their first league series win at home this season after taking 2-of-3 from both Mississippi State and South Carolina on the road.
- The weekend slate is the only league series this season against a non-NCAA Tournament team from a year ago.
- Ole Miss heads into the series having won nine of the last 11 meetings with the Razorbacks.
- The Rebels swept last year's series in Fayetteville and are 13-15 all-time against the Hogs in Oxford.
- The Rebels enter the weekend in a tie for seventh in the SEC with Texas A&M and Missouri at 6-9. The Tigers hold the tiebreaker over Ole Miss, while the Rebels and Aggies don't meet this season. Arkansas checks in last in the league with a 1-14 conference record.
- Ole Miss won its school record 31st game Tuesday night in a 5-3 victory over Memphis, topping the previous single-season record of 30 set by the 2005 and 2015 teams.
- The Rebels also won their 16th home game Tuesday, a new program record for home wins in a season.
- Freshman Hailey Lunderman picked up big honors on Thursday after being named a Top 25 finalist for the 2016 Schutt Sport/NFCA Division I National Freshman of the Year. Lunderman is one of nine players from the SEC on the list, and is the only shortstop among the Top 25 finalists.
- Three Rebels are nearing single season records. Lunderman's 58 hits are eight off tying the record (66) set by Lauren Grill in 2010. Miranda Strother has 37 runs this season, five from tying the single-season record (42) set by RT Cantillo in 2013, while her 27 stolen bases are six away from tying Brittany Broome's 2013 record (33).
- Senior pitcher Madi Osias, 16-6 on the year in the circle, is just one win from tying the single-season school record (17) set by Amanda Fine in 1997. She's also inched her way to ninth in career strikeouts (261).
- Following the road series win last weekend, Ole Miss jumped back inside the RPI top-30 at No. 29 for the second time this season.
- With a school record 114 stolen bases on the year, the Rebels rank fifth in the NCAA in that category and second in the SEC.
SCOUTING REPORT
The Razorbacks, 17-29 on the year, are led by first-year head coach Courtney Deifel. Arkansas was picked 13th in the SEC Preseason Coaches' Poll, and is 1-14 in league play in 2016. The Hogs have one of the nation's top freshmen in first baseman Ashley Diaz, who's hit 12 home runs and driven in 40 with a .374 average.
Arkansas opened the SEC slate going winless in its first three league series, before picking up the first conference win in the finale of the South Carolina series. The Razorbacks have played five common Ole Miss opponents this season, going 3-8 against UMKC, Northern Iowa, Oklahoma State, Kentucky and South Carolina. The Hogs are coming off a home series with No. 2 Auburn last weekend, where they lost by a combined 54-0 in the three contests.
Diaz leads the way offensively for the club as her 40 RBI rank first, and her 12 long balls are fifth best in the league. Shelby Hiers has also pitched in with eight home runs of her own, while Nicole Schroeder has six blasts to lead a team with 43 overall. The Razorbacks have stolen just 17 bases on the year led by Autumn Russell's 9-for-9 efforts.
Arkansas has used six pitchers on the year, and they have combined for a team ERA of 6.86. Grace Moll has been the workhorse for the Hogs with a 12-23 record and 5.08 ERA. She's started all but 11 contests and has gone 197 innings with a .277 average against, issuing 171 walks with 148 strikeouts. Eighteen of Moll's starts have been a complete game effort. Claire Clark is the only Arkansas pitcher with a winning record at 4-3 and an 8.57 ERA in seven starts. She's issued 66 walks and struck out 21, while opposing hitters are averaging a .358 clip against her.
FINDING THE RIGHT LINEUP COMBO
Through 46 games, Ole Miss has only had identical batting orders in consecutive games just twice all season. Head coach Mike Smith put together identical lineups in back-to-back days in the Ole Miss Classic, the only time this season matching a previous games' lineup. In the Kentucky series, the Rebels sent out the same order in the final two games against the No. 13 Wildcats, with the only difference being two players at two different positions, but still in the same lineup order. In the series at South Carolina, Ole Miss had the same defensive alignment in back-to-back days in the final two games, but in different batting order.
BIG INNINGS
Ole Miss has put together big innings throughout the 2016 season. Seven times this season, the Rebels have scored at least five runs in an inning. The season-high frame came on March 13 in the series finale vs. No. 13 Mizzou, when the Rebels plated nine in the third to eventually win the contest, 9-5. The Rebels used a five-run third in the season-opening tournament in Hawaii vs. St. Mary's to top the Gaels, 10-2, before going on to score five in the fifth a week later vs. Eastern Illinois. Ole Miss also scored five in the fourth inning against Belmont in a 9-5 win (March 4), and used a five-run first to top Youngstown State, 9-2 (March 9). Most recently, the Rebels traded leads with Oklahoma State (March 25), but fell in game two of the doubleheader after plating five runs in the third inning. In the finale at South Carolina, the Rebels plated five in the third to storm back to a 5-4 lead after going down early 4-0, but fell 7-5 to the Gamecocks.
REBELS RECEIVING VOTES; NO. 29 IN RPI
In five of the last six weeks, Ole Miss has appeared in at least one of the two top-25 national polls, receiving votes in both the USA Today/NFCA Coaches Poll, as well as the ESPN.com/USA Softball poll. The Rebels have fell no lower than 33rd in the NCAA RPI, and jumped back up to No. 29 in Monday's release following the series win at South Carolina.
OLE MISS TAKES ROAD SERIES AT SOUTH CAROLINA FOR FIRST TIME SINCE 2004
Ole Miss headed into the weekend in Columbia with just one series win against the Gamecocks on the road. But, after taking the first two contests of the series, the Rebels became the second team in school history to capture the road win in the Palmetto state. The series win also marked back-to-back SEC series wins on the road after the Rebels took two from the Mississippi State Bulldogs two weeks ago.
LUNDERMAN NAMED TOP 25 FINALIST FOR SCHUTT SPORTS/NFCA DI NATIONAL FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR
Freshman Hailey Lunderman picked up well deserved honors on Thursday after being named a Top 25 Finalist for the Schutt Sports/NFCA Division I National Freshman of the Year. Lunderman is one of nine players from the SEC on the Top 25 list, and is the lone shortstop among all 25 finalists. The winner of the National Freshman of the Year Award will be announced May 31.
ON DECK
Ole Miss closes its five-game homestand Wednesday, April 27, against UAB in a 6 p.m. game that will be aired live on SEC Network with Jenn Hildreth (play-by-play) and Kayla Braud (analyst) on the call.
For all Ole Miss Softball news and information, go to OleMissSports.com and follow the Rebels on Twitter at @OleMissSoftball, on Facebook at Ole Miss Softball and on Instagram at Instagram.com/olemisssoftball. Fans can also follow head coach Mike Smith on Twitter at @msmithsb16. Additionally fans can get a behind the scenes look at Ole Miss Athletics on Snapchat under the handle, @WeAreOleMiss.
