The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss
Wright State
Baseball Opens 2019 Campaign Against Wright State
2/15/2019 | Baseball
Rebels Welcome Horizon League Favorite to Oxford
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#10 OLE MISS (48-17, 18-12 SEC) vs. WRIGHT STATE (39-17, 22-6 Horizon) Feb. 15-17 Oxford, Miss. Oxford-University Stadium/Swayze Field (11,477) |
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| Ole Miss Notes • SEC Notes | ||||||||
Friday, Feb. 15 |
Saturday, Feb. 16 |
Sunday, Feb. 17 |
| PROJECTED STARTERS Ole Miss: RHP Will Ethridge 3-1, 3.91 ERA, 53 K, 14 BB Wright State: RHP Bear Bellomy 2-2, 7.34 ERA, 25 K, 16 BB |
PROJECTED STARTERS Ole Miss: LHP Zack Phillips 0-0, 0.00 ERA, 0 K, 0 BB Wright State: LHP Zane Collins 6-1, 4.18 ERA, 48 K, 44 BB |
PROJECTED STARTERS Ole Miss: RHP Gunnar Hoglund 0-0, 0.00 ERA, 0 K, 0 BB Wright State: RHP Daniel Kreuzer 5-1, 3.35 ERA, 24 K, 23 BB |
| Watch • Listen • Live Stats | Watch • Listen • Live Stats | Watch • Listen • Live Stats |
LEADING OFF
• Ole Miss is 17-1 in season openers under head coach Mike Bianco.
• The Rebels have won 14 of 18 season-opening weekend series during the Bianco era.
• Ole Miss sold more than 7,100 season tickets, a program record.
• Ole Miss is the only team in the SEC and one of just three teams (Baylor, Army) with seven or more returning players who started 48 or more games in 2018.
• Four Rebels (Cole Zabowski, Parker Caracci, Chase Cockrell, Tyler Keenan) were named Preseason All-SEC, the most in program history and tied for the most in the conference this season.
• Ole Miss was picked by the coaches to finish second in the SEC West after sharing the divisional crown with Arkansas in 2018.
• Three Rebels earned Preseason All-America Honors: Parker Caracci (5x), Thomas Dillard, Ryan Olenek
• The Rebels open up ranked 13th or higher in all six national polls: Perfect Game (10), D1Baseball (10), USA Today (10), Collegiate Baseball (11), NCBWA (11), Baseball America (13)
• Ole Miss tied a program record with 48 wins in 2018, and at 48-17, the Rebels posted their best win percentage (.738) in 48 seasons. The 17 defeats were also the fewest in the Mike Bianco era.
• Ole Miss lost just one game against non-SEC competition in the entire 2018 regular season
• Ole Miss is 6-3 all-time against Wright State, all coming in the Bianco era. In the last meeting, the Rebels took 2-of-3 from the Raiders in the second weekend of the 2015 season.
GAMEDAY INFORMATION
• OleMissGameday.com
• OleMissGameday.com/baseball/parking
• OleMissTix.com
GENERAL ADMISSION SEATING
General Admission seating is located in left field and overflow into right field. For left field and right field general admission, you are allowed to bring in your own folding chair to sit in. You are only able to enter the stadium with a folding chair through the left or right field gate entrances and are responsible for removing your chair after the game has ended. If all seats are filled in left field or right field, we offer standing room only around the stadium. Please be mindful when standing around the stadium as to not block another person's view.
PROMO SCHEDULE
FRIDAY
• First Pitch: Ryan Rolison
• Schedule Magnet Giveaway
SATURDAY
• Team Poster Giveaway
SATURDAY
• Kids Run the Bases presented by Belles and Beaus
SEE YOU AT SWAYZE
In 2018, Ole Miss was No. 2 in the nation in both total and average attendance for the fourth consecutive season. Swayze Field attracted 8,965 fans per game and a total of 322,742 fans over 36 games.
The season included five of the top 10 most-attended games in program history, including the single-game attendance record of 12,152 in the series-deciding game against LSU on April 28, 2018, which Ole Miss won, 9-8. The Rebels also set the single-game postseason attendance record in the opening game of the NCAA Oxford Regional as Ole Miss topped Saint Louis, 9-2.
Going into 2019, Ole Miss broke its program record for season ticket sales. The previous program-high was 6,275 for the 2017 season. At the start of the 2019 campaign, the season ticket sales figure eclipsed 7,000 for the first time in history.
SEC CHAMPS
Ole Miss opens the 2018 season as the reigning SEC Tournament Champion. The Rebels fell in their first game of the conference tournament to Auburn but reeled off five straight wins against top competition to capture the crown. The run culminated with a 9-1 drubbing of LSU in the title game. The Rebels won their third SEC Tournament title and their ninth overall conference crown. Ole Miss also secured a share of the SEC Western
Division title in 2018, the 15th West championship won by the Rebels.
REBELS IN THE RANKINGS
Ole Miss opens the 2018 season as a top-10 team in three of the six major polls (D1Baseball, Perfect Game, USA Today). The Rebels are 11th according to Collegiate Baseball and NCBWA and are 13th in Baseball America's preseason poll.
RECORD-BREAKING REBELS
Ole Miss tied a program record with 48 wins in 2018, and at 48-17, the Rebels posted their best win percentage (.738) in 48 seasons. The 17 defeats were also the fewest in the Mike Bianco era.
PRESEASON HONORS
Ole Miss earned four preseason All-SEC honors, the most in Rebel baseball history and tied for the most in the conference this season. First baseman Cole Zabowski landed on the first team, while Parker Caracci, Chase Cockrell and Tyler Keenan earned second team honors. Six of the Rebels' starting nine offensive players carry either 2019 preseason or 2018 postseason honors into the start of the season.
Preseason All-American
Parker Caracci - 1st Team (Perfect Game); 2nd Team (D1Baseball, NCBWA, Collegiate Baseball); 3rd Team (Baseball America)
Thomas Dillard - 2nd Team (D1Baseball)
Ryan Olenek - 3rd Team (Collegiate Baseball)
Preseason All-SEC
1B Cole Zabowski - First Team
RHP Parker Caracci - Second Team
IF/OF/DH Chase Cockrell - Second Team
3B Tyler Keenan - Second Team
NON-CON DOMINANCE
Ole Miss lost just one midweek game last season—an out-of-conference defeat to SEC foe Mississippi State in the battle for the Governor's Cup. The Rebels had just one other non-conference loss in the 2018 regular season, a 4-3 defeat at Long Beach State in the third weekend of the season.
STARTING OFF
Ole Miss must replace its entire weekend starting rotation as Ryan Rolison, Brady Feigl and James McArthur were all selected in the 2018 MLB Draft and have moved on to the professional ranks.
GOOD WILL PITCHING
Will Ethridge earned the Friday night role after posting the team's best ERA over the offseason. The junior out of Lilburn, Georgia, posted a miniscule 0.60 ERA in the fall with 18 strikeouts compared to four walks (4.50 K/BB). He kept it going in the spring, holding opposing hitters to two runs over 11 innings for a 1.67 ERA.
TO THE LEFTY
It was a hot competition for the No. 2 and 3 weekend starter roles behind Ethridge, and junior college transfer Zack Phillips seized the Saturday night spot. Phillips, a lefty out of Texarkana, Arkansas, was strong in the fall, striking out 16 over 12.2 innings, but he came back even better after the winter break. The Grayson CC transfer allowed just two runs in 10 innings of work this spring for a 2.20 ERA. He silenced the powerful Rebel lineup, throwing five scoreless innings in his final intrasquad outing of the spring.
FAB FRESHMAN
The final starting role was taken by highly touted freshman Gunnar Hoglund. Hoglund was drafted in the first round of the 2018 MLB Draft by the Pittsburgh Pirates but elected to come to Oxford.
The rookie out of Hudson, Florida, has lived up to his billing thus far. His fall ERA was second only to Ethridge at 1.23 over 14.2 innings of work. He was outstanding in the spring as well, posting a 6.0 strikeout-to-walk ratio, going 8.2 innings without issuing a free pass. Before his final start of the spring, he allowed just two earned runs.
CLOSING TIME
Parker Caracci had a breakout 2018 season that ended in All-America honors and a selection in the 37th round of the MLB Draft by the Toronto Blue Jays. However, Caracci elected to return for his redshirt-junior campaign, and he has worked his way back to top form going into the season.
Caracci pitched for the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team over the summer, posting a perfect 0.00 ERA with two saves and an opposing batting average of .094 in 9.2 innings of work.
Heading into the season, Caracci is a first-team All-American according to Perfect Game, in addition to four other All-America nods. He's also All-SEC Second Team and is on the NCBWA Stopper of the Year Award Watch List.
2018 REWIND
Ole Miss finished the season as the top offense in the Southeastern Conference, leading the league with a team batting average of .300, good for 16th nationally.
The Rebels finished in the top 25 nationally in eight offensive categories: batting average (16th), doubles (11th), hits (8th), home runs (12th), runs scored (14th), sacrifice flies (24th), scoring (25th) and slugging percentage (15th).
VETERAN LINEUP
Ole Miss is the only team in the SEC and is one of just three teams in the nation (Baylor, Army) with seven returning players with 48 or more starts each in 2018.
In total, the Rebels return a combined 2,744 career at-bats. That group brings back a combined .307 batting average from 2018 with 438 hits, 299 runs scored, 90 doubles, 55 home runs and 263 RBI.
SWAYZE SHOWERS
Five Rebels return after hitting eight or more home runs in 2018—Thomas Dillard (13), Cole Zabowski (10), Tyler Keenan (9), Chase Cockrell (9) and Grae Kessinger (8).
HONORED HITTERS
Six of the Rebels' starting nine offensive players carry either 2019 preseason or 2018 postseason honors into the start of the season: Thomas Dillard (Preseason All-American); Ryan Olenek (Preseason All-American, 2018 All-SEC First Team); Cole Zabowski (Preseason All-SEC First Team); Chase Cockrell (Preseason All-SEC Second Team); Tyler Keenan (Preseason All-SEC Second Team, 2018 Freshman All-American); Anthony Servideo (2018 SEC All-Freshman Team).
REBS RAISED THE BAR
Through the 2018 regular season, Ole Miss scored 132 more runs on 114 more hits than in 2017. The Rebel offense added 24 more doubles, 24 more home runs and 128 more RBI. Ole Miss also struck out 78 fewer times than it did during the regular season in 2017. The Rebels hit .050 points better and slugged nearly .100 points better than they did a year prior.
OPENING WEEKEND
Ole Miss is 17-1 in season openers under head coach Mike Bianco. The Rebels have won 14 of 18 season-opening weekend series during the Bianco era.
SCOUTING WRIGHT STATE
Wright State returns six starters on offense but must replace Horizon League Player of the Year Gabe Snyder. The top candidate to fill that role is right fielder Peyton Burdick, who hit .347 a year ago with 65 RBI and 60 runs scored.
On the mound, the Raiders must replace three of last season's top five starting pitchers, and every reliever who recorded a save in 2018.
