Rebels, Bulldogs Set for Wednesday Rivalry Clash

March 21, 2017

Game 28
Mississippi State (22-7, 2-4 SEC) vs. No. 23 Ole Miss (21-6, 0-3 SEC)
Date: March 22, 2017
First Pitch: 6 p.m.
Location: Oxford, Miss.
Venue: Ole Miss Softball Complex (1,000)
TV: SEC Network +
Will Kollmeyer (play-by-play)
Madi Osias (analyst)
Mobile: ESPN App
Live stats: Series: Mississippi State leads 39-24
Last Series: April 2-4, 2016
Ole Miss won 2-of-3
Starkville, Miss.
Twitter Updates: @OleMissSoftball

PROMOTIONS
- Strikeout Cancer/PINK game (fans wear pink)
- Rebel Rewards Prize Pickup

LEADING OFF

No. 23 Ole Miss stays home to host rival Mississippi State in a midweek, non-conference tilt in Oxford.
In what is Ole Miss' most played series in school history, Wednesday's matchup will go down in the record books as a non-conference game as the two teams do not meet in SEC weekend play this season.
The only two seasons the two sides met in non-conference action were 2007 and 2008, but they also played each other in league weekend series' those years.
Wednesday's game closes out the Rebels' 14-game homestand, and will end a 22-day stretch of all home games.
The Rebels are coming off opening weekend of SEC play, where they dropped three contests to No. 7 Texas A&M, two of which were decided by just a combined four runs.
Following Wednesday's midweek tilt, Ole Miss will hit the road for the first time since Feb. 26 to trek to Knoxville, Tennessee, for a three-game set with No. 19 Tennessee.
The rivalry matchup Wednesday features two top-45 RPI teams as the Bulldogs are No. 27, while the Rebels are No. 45.
Despite scoring only three runs against the Aggies last weekend, Ole Miss still has the nation's fourth-ranked offense (7.56 runs/game), which leads the SEC.
The Rebels are also still top-20 nationally in four major categories, ranking sixth in average (.354), eighth in on-base percentage (.442), 19th in slugging (.511) and 10th in stolen bases per game (2.30).
Wednesday's contest will feature two contrasting styles, as the Bulldogs have the SEC's fifth-best ERA (1.35), while the Rebels' .354 average is second-best in the league, scoring 204 total runs, also second best.
Junior OF Elantra Cox continues on a blistering pace at the plate, still hitting .523 (fifth-best in NCAA), with 46 total hits, also fifth-most in the country and third best in the SEC. Her current .523 average is .80 points better than the Ole Miss season record, and she already has 15 multi-hit games in 27 tries.
Cox is also nearing a career record mark, needing just seven stolen bases to tie the school record, and eight to break it.
Senior Miranda Strother, who holds the school's fourth-higest career average currently (.331), is also just five runs off tying the career record, needing 136 to break it. She currently ranks ninth in the SEC in runs per game averaging 0.96.
Defensively, Ole Miss ranks fifth in the league and 20th nationally with a .975 fielding percentage, and 14 of the 27 games have resulted in no errors in the field.
In two midweek games thus far (Louisiana Tech, Southeastern Louisiana), the Rebels are hitting .333 and have tallied 10 extra-base hits in those two contests with 14 runs scored.
After having the same starting lineup in 14 of 15 games, Ole Miss has one five-straight games with a different batting order.

SCOUTING REPORT
With a 22-7 mark overall, and 2-4 through two weekends of SEC play, Mississippi State heads into Wednesday's midweek tilt with the first of six-straight non-conference matchups over the next two weeks. Much like Ole Miss, the Bulldogs went into SEC play with a 19-3 mark overall and won 16 games in-a-row from Feb. 17-March 10. After going 3-2 in their season-opening tournament in Starkville, the Bulldogs took part in the Puerto Vallarta College Challenge in week two, picking up wins over Fresno State, Texas Tech and Florida Gulf Coast. From there, MSU continued its streak with two more home tournaments, before opening SEC play with Texas A&M in College Station. After winning the opener, 5-2, the Bulldogs dropped the final two games, 5-1 and 3-1. Most recently, Mississippi State hosted No. 8 Alabama and took the middle game, 1-0, but fell in the other two contests, 11-3 and 3-0.

The Bulldogs' pitching staff has been the difference this season with a team ERA of 1.35, 12th in the NCAA and fifth in the SEC. Four MSU pitchers have combined to hold opposing hitters to a .193 average, and the staff has five shutouts with 14 complete games thus far. Alexis Silkwood has the nation's 10th-best ERA (0.75) and is 9-1 in 18 appearances. She's allowed just nine earned runs, and struck out 61 with 19 walks. The next closest pitcher in ERA is Holly Ward with a 1.47 mark and 5-3 record. She's also started nine games and gone the distance in five, holding opposing hitters to just a .186 clip. Cassady Knudsen is 4-2 with a 1.67 ERA in eight appearances, and Regan Green is 4-1 with a 2.29 ERA also in eight outings.

On the offensive side, the Bulldogs are last in the league in scoring, averaging just 3.90 runs per game. With four hitters above .300 through 29 games, the team has a .290 average with 113 total runs scored. Bevia Robinson has paced the club with a .383 clip and 31 hits and 18 runs, both which lead the team. Reggie Harrison has clubbed four home runs, tied for the most on the team, and is hitting .370 wth 12 extra-base hits. Caroline Seitz has driven in a team high 17 RBI, but is hitting just .233 in 90 at-bats. The Bulldogs are 43-of-51 in stolen bases led by 16 from Robinson and six from Harrison.

Defensively, Mississippi State has a team fielding percentage of .972, ninth-best in the SEC. Harrison has 11 errors at shortstop, while Emily Heimberger is next closest with five errors.

SERIES HISTORY
The Rebels have won 24 games all-time in the series that dates back to 1997. The two rivals have met 28 times in Oxford, with the Bulldogs holding a 16-12 advantage in what is Ole Miss' most played series of any school. The last meeting in Oxford came back in 2015, when Ole Miss took two games in the series. 2014 was the only season the two rivals didn't play each other, and Wednesday's matchup will count as a non-conference game. The Rebels and Bulldogs have faced off in what were considered non-conference contests before back in 2007 and 2008, but they also played three-game, SEC series' those seasons.

LAST TIME VS. MISSISSIPPI STATE
April 4, 2016 â€¢ Starkville, Miss. â€¢ Ole Miss 9, Mississippi State 5: Ole Miss rallied for a total team effort cruising past rival Mississippi State, 9-5, in last year's series finale in Starkville. After Mississippi State took an early 2-0 advantage, the Rebels posted runs in four different frames and never looked back winning the series over the Bulldogs for the second-straight year. The series victory also marked just the second time in school history and first time since 2006-07 the Rebels won back-to-back series over their rival. Madi Osias carried the load totaling over 300 pitches on the weekend. She entered in relief of starter Elisha Jahnke, and totaled 6.1 innings with three earned runs allowed off five hits and seven strikeouts. On the offensive side, the top of the Rebel order in Elantra Cox and Hailey Lunderman paced the way for a potent offense as the duo, along with Alex Schneider, all set new career highs in hits. Cox went 4-for-5 from the leadoff spot with two RBI and three runs scored, while Lunderman was 4-for-5 with two RBI and one run. Schneider finished the game 3-for-4 with two RBI and three runs off her two-run home run. Freshman Ashton Lampton also found her groove at the plate finishing 2-for-4 with one RBI. Natalie Martinez also finished the contest with two RBI off one hit.

ROSTER CONNECTIONS

Mississippi State freshman C Lexi Malone and Ole Miss sophomore C Sarah Van Schaik are both originally from Petal, Mississippi, and were high school teammates at Petal HS.
â€¢ The Bulldogs have four Mississippians on their roster, and a combined 10 players from Alabama and
Georgia. Six Bulldogs hail from head coach Vann Stuedeman's home state in Alabama, while four are from The Peach State.

RUNS, RUNS, AND MORE RUNS
The Rebels are scoring at a rate per game more than any other team in the SEC (7.56), good enough for second in the country. Ole Miss has totaled 10 games this season already with double-digit run totals, and 17 of the 27 outings have resulted in at least eight runs scored. The Rebels rank second in the SEC in three major offensive categories (.354 AVG, 204 runs, 62 steals), and are third in slugging (.511), hits (251), and RBI (178), and fourth in OBP (.442).

Rank	Team	Games	Runs	Runs Per Game
1.	Louisiana-Lafayette	25	209	8.36
2.	Arizona	30	240	8.00
3.	Oregon	27	212	7.85
4.	Ole Miss	27	204	7.56
5.	Southern	16	120	7.50

NATIONALLY-RANKED REBELS
The Rebels have now sustained four-straight weeks in both major polls after dropping to 23rd in the NFCA Coaches' Poll, and back to receiving votes in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Top 25. Ole Miss' next two opponents, Mississippi State and Tennessee, are also in the two polls, with the Bulldogs receiving votes, and the Vols as high as No. 19.

Elantra Cox: A CLOSER LOOK
Ole Miss junior OF Elantra Cox has led the team offensively thus far in nearly category; but, she doesn't just lead in terms of numbers, she's made it look easy with dominating results through 27 games. Take a look below for the breakdown of some of Cox's numbers, including national ranks, streak notes, and school record marks.

Hit Streak (17)

School record, T-3rd longest in SEC
Auburn's Haley Fagan (20)

Batting Average (.523)

2nd in SEC; 5th in NCAA
.80 better than season record
1st in career AVG (.400)

Hits (46)

3rd in SEC, 5th in NCAA
15 multi-hit games (1st in SEC)
Had 11 multi-hit games in-a-row

On-Base % (.553)

5th in SEC; 20th in NCAA
3rd in career list (.434)
Reached base in all but 5 games

Stolen bases (18)

2nd in SEC; T-25th in NCAA
7 off tying career record (75)
Steal(s) in 14-of-27 games

A DIVERSE DEFENSE
For the most part, Ole Miss has settled on its consistent starters across the field. While the personnel have been the same, they are diverse in where they hail from. All eight are from eight different states, making it quite the diverse defense. (C: New York - Syrett, 1B: Kansas - Finney, 2B: Alabama - Horton, SS: Mississippi - Lampton, 3B: California - Stancil, LF: Tennessee - Cox, CF: Georgia - Strother, RF: Florida - Becker).

REBELS NO. 45 IN FIRST NCAA RPI
With the first release of the NCAA's RPI rankings on March 20, Ole Miss checked in at No. 45. The Rebels have played four top-50 RPI teams, but haven't picked up a win against a team ranked higher than No. 61. From now through the end of the regular season, Ole Miss will play eight top-50 RPI teams, with an average opponent RPI of 55 over the final couple months of action. (Mississippi State - No. 27, Tennessee - 14, Jacksonville State - 75, Kentucky - 19, Central Arkansas - 209, Auburn - 7, Memphis - 66, LSU - 13, UT Martin - 121, Florida - 9, Alabama - 2, Southern Miss - 111, Missouri - 44).

ON DECK
Ole Miss kicks off a four-game road swing by traveling to Knoxville, Tennessee, for a three-game set this weekend at No. 19 Tennessee.

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.

RebelsCalendar

Players Mentioned

Elantra Cox

Elisha Jahnke

Ashton Lampton

Hailey Lunderman

Natalie Martinez

Madi Osias

Madi Osias

Sarah Schaik

Alex Schneider

Miranda Strother

The University of Mississippi Athletics