Rebel Softball Hosts Central Arkansas Tuesday

April 3, 2017

Game 36
Central Arkansas (13-25) vs. No. 24 Ole Miss (24-11)
Date: April 4, 2017
First Pitch: 6 p.m.
Location: Oxford, Miss.
Venue: Ole Miss Softball Complex (1,000)
TV: SEC Network +
Seth Austin, play-by-play
Madi Osias, analyst
Mobile: ESPN App
Live stats: Series: Ole Miss leads 7-2
Last Meeting: March 15, 2016
Ole Miss won 7-0
Oxford, Miss.
Twitter Updates: @OleMissSoftball

PROMOTIONS
- $1 Hot Dogs & Popcorn

LEADING OFF

Ole Miss hosts Central Arkansas in fifth midweek game of the season, and first on a Tuesday in 2017.
The Rebels hosted the Bears last March in Oxford and claimed a 7-0 victory, the seventh win all-time in the series.
In six meetings with UCA all-time in Oxford, Ole Miss has never lost, and has outscored the Bears 42-12.
Ole Miss is coming off its first SEC series win of the season, after taking the Friday/Sunday games in the series with the Wildcats.
The Rebels handed Kentucky its first shutout of the season in Sunday's 4-0 win, and became only the second team this season to score seven runs on the Wildcats' pitching staff in Friday's 7-1 victory.
Following a 2-2 week, the Rebels jumped seven spots in the latest RPI to No. 36, the highest mark of the season.
The Rebels will face two opponents on opposite ends of the RPI this week in UCA (No. 200) and Auburn (No. 3).
Central Arkansas is the only opponent left on the Rebels' schedule not ranked in the top 100 RPI. They are also the only remaining opponent with an overall record below .500.
With 20 games left on the docket, the Rebels have the third-toughest remaining schedule of any team in the NCAA. The remaining 10 opponents are a combined 245-110 (.690), and six have a current RPI inside the top-50.
The Rebels head into Tuesday's matchup with a 3-1 mark in midweek games, and are 3-0 in home midweeks.
Ole Miss has gone 13-straight games now with a different batting order, and are 5-8 in those contests. During that stretch, 15 different players have earned starts, as Ole Miss has now had 19 different starting lineups in 35 games.
Head coach Mike Smith is now just five wins away from 100 as the head coach of the Rebels. In three seasons at the helm of the program, Smith has led Ole Miss to 11 wins over top-25 teams, including four this season.
Junior OF Elantra Cox still leads the team by nearly 100 points in average (.466), good enough for the third-best average in the SEC. She now has 17 multi-hit games in 35 tries, and has reached safely in all but five games. With a current five game hit streak, Cox is third in the SEC and seventh nationally with 54 total hits, and ranks second overall in the league with 20 steals.
Senior Miranda Strother is hitting .304 in her last 10, with three runs scored, eight walks and four steals in that stretch. With 132 career runs scored, she needs just three more to tie the school record.
Junior Kaitlin Lee has been lights out in the last five games, with a 1.25 ERA and 2-1 record in five appearances. In four starts, she's gone to complete games with one shutout, and has allowed just five earned runs in that stretch.
In 17 home games, the Rebels have totaled 8,600+ fans and rank 29th in the NCAA in total attendance.
Ole Miss continues to dominate when scoring early, now at 13-0 when scoring in the first, and 21-1 when scoring first.
The Rebels have scored 74 percent of their runs in the first four innings, and totaled 95 runs in the third and fourth alone.
Nearly have of Ole Miss' RBI have come with two outs (47 percent), driving 88 runs in thus far with two outs.

SCOUTING REPORT
Central Arkansas heads into Tuesday's matchup 13-25 overall and 4-8 in Southland Conference play. The Bears started off the season 0-5, but have gone 6-4 in the last 10 games. UCA is coming of a 1-2 weekend where they dropped 2-of-3 to Nicholls State, a week after also losing 2-of-3 to Sam Houston State. The Bears spent the first two weekends on the road in Mobile and Baton Rouge, going a combined 1-7 in those games. From there they hosted their own tournament, winning a pair of games against UAPB and ULM, before also winning two against UMASS in Starkville a week later. UCA is 5-8 against Ole Miss common opponents.

The Bears have been led by Kayla Gomness in the circle, who is 8-11 in 19 starts with a 2.89 ERA. She's appeared in 25 games totaling 121 innings, allowing 50 earned runs with 26 walks and 65 strikeouts. She has allowed 26 extra-base hits (19 2B, 3 3B, 4 HR), and has hit 14 batters thus far. Behind her, Ellie Reaves is second on the team with 52.1 innings, and is 2-7 in 10 starts with a 4.68 ERA. Opposing hitters have tallied a .300 average against UCA's pitching, and the Bears have a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 129-67.

UCA has just one hitter with an average above .300, Kaylyn Shepherd, who's hitting .326 with 12 RBI and 14 runs scored. She leads the club in on-base percentage reaching a combined 30 times off a walk or HBP (15 each). Cylla Hill leads the team with 16 RBI, while two players have three home runs thus far (Kailla Searcy, Krissy Fontillas). Briana Whisenhunt is just one of two players with double digit steals (15-of-17), and leads the team with 11 extra-base hits.

Defensively, the Bears have struggled in the field committing 55 errors thus far for a .953 fielding percentage.

LAST GAME VS. CENTRAL ARKANSAS
March 15, 2016 â€¢ Oxford, Miss. â€¢ Ole Miss 7, Central Arkansas 0: The Rebels were more than dominant in last season's matchup, giving up just five hits and shutting out the Bears, 7-0.

Senior pitcher Madi Osias allowed just four UCA hits and struck out eight with just two walks allowed. Kayla Landwehrmier closed it out in the final inning, striking out two and allowing just one hit to seal the deal for the Rebels.

The Rebels struck early, thanks to an RBI groundout from Miranda Strother that scored Elantra Cox, who was responsible for two runs in the game.

Ole Miss kept it going two frames later when Ashton Lampton shot a ground ball to the first that scored Strother, and also allowed Cox to cross home thanks to an errant throw by the first baseman.

The Rebels put together their biggest scoring inning of the night in the fourth when Becker laid down an RBI bunt, before a wild pitch brought home two more runners making it a 6-0 contest.

Ole Miss went on to score the final run of the game in the fifth when Bry Castro's groundout scored Strother, capping the offense for the Rebels.

FROM ONE (LINEUP) EXTREME TO ANOTHER
In the 2016 regular season, the Rebels had the same lineup and batting order only five times, totaling 52 different lineup combinations through 57 games. In 2017, the theme has become very similar despite having the same batting order in 14-of-15 games from Feb. 19-March 11. Through 35 contests, Ole Miss has 19 different lineups from top to bottom, and just one player has started all 35 (Miranda Strother - CF). The Rebels have gone 13-straight games now with a different batting order, and Elantra Cox is the only player who has maintained her same spot in the order all year long (leadoff).

IT DOESN'T GET ANY EASIER FROM HERE...
There's no denying the fact that Ole Miss arguably has the toughest SEC slate of any team in the league this season. Through three weekends of conference action against three top-20 teams, the Rebels have the third-toughest schedule remaining of any team in the country. The NCAA ranks teams' strength of schedules (past and future) based on opponent records, and Ole Miss' remaining opponents are 245-110 (.690) with an average RPI of 56. Only Kentucky and South Carolina have tougher remaining schedules.

TRUE MEANING OF UTILITY PLAYER
Paige McKinney, a junior with 129 games played in her career, has embraced the meaning of a utility player in 2017. She has started at five different positions defensively, and at some point has played every position on the field except pitcher and catcher. Five of her starts have come at second base, three at shortstop, and two at first, while the other two have come in the outfield (RF - 1, LF - 1). Not only has she been a versatile player, she's been effective, ranking third on the team with 11 steals, and has yet to be thrown out. In nine of her 12 starts, she's reached safely at least once, and has tallied either a steal or hit in 14 games.

LEE = LIGHTS OUT VS. NO. 16 KENTUCKY
Junior RHP Kaitlin Lee was more than impressive in the weekend series win over the No. 16 Wildcats, working 15 total innings across two starts. She finished with two complete game efforts and threw one shutout, allowing just one run off 10 hits in her two starts, while striking out six UK hitters. She came out in Friday's series opener and dominated from the start, allowing only five Kentucky hits, keeping the Wildcats off the board until the sixth whent they scored one of their only two runs on the weekend. She worked four Ks in the opener improving to 7-4, then worked an inning in relief in the middle game on Saturday. On Sunday, the Gulfport, Mississippi native was just as impressive, again allowing only five hits, this time with no runs in her third complete game shutout of the season.

OLE MISS WINS SERIES WITH KENTUCKY FOR FIRST TIME IN 11 YEARS
The Rebels entered the weekend with No. 16 Kentucky leading the all-time series, 28-23, but didn't have a series win since 2006. That changed last weekend as Ole Miss took Friday's opener, and secured a Sunday shutout to claim the rubber match. It marked the first series win over Kentucky since the 2006 season, when the Rebels swept in Oxford.

REBELS JUMP SEVEN SPOTS IN RPI
With a 2-2 record in week eight, the Rebels officially jumped seven spots in this week's RPI rankings up to No. 36, after coming in at No. 43 a week ago. The increase came in large part thanks to a pair of wins over then No. 15 UK, and a battle with No. 48 Jacksonville State in a midweek tilt.

With the third-toughest remaining schedule in terms of win totals across the country, Ole Miss has five SEC weekends left against teams that are all in the top-25 in RPI, including No. 3 Auburn, No. 5 Florida, No. 10 LSU, No. 12 Alabama, and No. 25 Missouri.

ON DECK
After Tuesday's midweek tilt, the Rebels will head east to face No. 5 Auburn for a three-game set this weekend on The Plains.

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

Bry Castro

Elantra Cox

Ashton Lampton

Kayla Landwehrmier

Kaitlin Lee

Paige McKinney

Madi Osias

Madi Osias

Miranda Strother

The University of Mississippi Athletics