SEC Play Begins as Rebels Host Crimson Tide

			#7 OLE MISS (12-5, 0-0 SEC) vs. ALABAMA (16-2, 0-0 SEC) March 15-17 Oxford, Miss. Oxford-University Stadium/Swayze Field (11,477)
Ole Miss Notes • Alabama Notes • SEC Notes

Friday, Mar. 15 6:30 p.m.	Saturday, Mar. 16 1:30 p.m.	Sunday, Mar. 17 1:30 p.m.
PROJECTED STARTERS Ole Miss: RHP Will Ethridge 3-0, 0.66 ERA, 8 K, 4 BB Alabama: RHP Sam Finnerty 4-0, 2.16 ERA, 19 K, 2 BB	PROJECTED STARTERS Ole Miss: LHP Zack Phillips 1-1, 5.21 ERA, 17 K, 8 BB Alabama: RHP Brock Love 2-0, 0.55 ERA, 26 K, 4 BB	PROJECTED STARTERS Ole Miss: RHP Gunnar Hoglund 0-0, 3.77 ERA, 8 K, 1 BB Alabama: RHP Wil Freeman 2-0, 1.56 ERA, 12 K, 3 BB
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LEADING OFF
• Ole Miss enters SEC play at 12-5, coming off a pair of midweek losses at No. 7 Louisville.
• The Rebels will meet Alabama for the 362nd time Friday. Alabama holds the series lead, 210-149-2. These two teams last met in 2018, when the Rebels took 2-of-3 in Tuscaloosa to secure a share of the SEC West title.
• The Crimson Tide lead 75-68-1 in Oxford. The last time the Tide rolled into town in 2017, Ole Miss swept the series with comfortable 7-2 and 8-2 wins sandwiched around a 5-4 win, coming courtesy of a walk-off home run by Tate Blackman. Ole Miss is 8-1 over the last three series against Alabama at Swayze Field.
• Ole Miss has the SEC's leader in RBI (Keenan), home runs (Dillard) and hits (Olenek).
• Tyler Keenan enters the weekend as the SEC's leader in RBI at 28, good for No. 3 in the nation.
• Thomas Dillard enters the weekend as the SEC's leader in home runs with seven, good for eighth in the nation.
• Ryan Olenek enters the weekend as the SEC's leader in hits with 29, good for sixth in the nation.
• Ole Miss is No. 9 in the country and second in the SEC with 22 home runs on the season.
• The Rebels have stolen 33 bases this season, the third-most in the SEC and 17th-most in the country.
• Ole Miss has scored 139 runs this season, the fifth-highest scoring rate in the SEC and 14th-best in the nation.
• Ole Miss ranks 24th in the nation with a .470 slugging percentage.
• The Rebels have won their last three SEC Opening Weekend series.
• Friday night starter Will Ethridge enters the weekend with a 0.66 ERA, which would rank sixth in the SEC, but the junior out of Lilburn, Georgia, is 3.1 IP short of meeting the 1.0 IP per game minimum to qualify for rankings.
• In his last two starts, Saturday starter Zack Phillips has a 2.25 ERA with 3 ER, 3 BB and 12 K.
• In his last three starts, Sunday starter Gunnar Hoglund has posted a 2.19 ERA with 3 ER, 0 BB and 5 K.

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
• SEC Champion Coin Giveaway
• Beat Alabama Buttons
• Friday Night Fireworks

SATURDAY
• SEC Champs Poster Giveaway

SUNDAY
• Baseball Card Pack Giveaway (1 of 5)
• Kids Run the Bases pres. 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. The Rebels were second in the nation in opening-day attendance in 2019 (8,832), behind only LSU.

This season is the 30th anniversary of Oxford-University Stadium/Swayze Field, which opened February 19, 1989. Prior to the construction of the current facility, the Rebels played at Old Swayze Field, which stood where The Pavilion at Ole Miss currently stands.

MENTIONABLE 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. 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

2019 Weekly Honors
Thomas Dillard - SEC Player of the Week (Week 2), Golden Spikes Award Performance of the Week (Week 2), NCBWA National Hitter of the Week (Week 2), Collegiate Baseball National Player of the Week (Week 2)
Ryan Olenek - Collegiate Baseball National Player of the Week (Week 3)

THE TALE OF THE TIDE

Ole Miss and Alabama will continue the second-longest running series in Rebel history at 361 all-time meetings. Alabama holds the series lead, 210-149-2. These two teams last met in 2018, when the Rebels took 2-of-3 in Tuscaloosa to secure a share of the SEC West title.

The Crimson Tide lead 75-68-1 in Oxford. The last time the Tide rolled into town in 2017, Ole Miss swept the series with comfortable 7-2 and 8-2 wins sandwiched around a 5-4 win, coming courtesy of a walk-off home run by Tate Blackman. Ole Miss is 8-1 over the last three series against Alabama at Swayze Field.

Crimson Tide outfielder Gene Wood is a Flowood, Mississippi, native and a high school teammate of Parker Caracci at Jackson Prep. The Rebels have two players who hail from Alabama: freshman out fielder Josh Hall (Birmingham/Homewood HS) and junior catcher Hunter Nabors (Montevallo/Montevallo HS).

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 minuscule 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.

Ethridge missed his second start of the season at Tulane with a blister, but aside from that hiccup, he has been every bit of the Friday night ace the Rebels hoped for. His 0.66 ERA would rank sixth in the SEC, but he is 3.1 innings shy of the SEC ranking minimum of 1.0 IP/game.

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.

Phillips has improved with every outing at the D1 level, the latest a career-high 7.0 innings with just one earned run allowed as he earned his first career win against UAB. He struck out a career-high seven, walking just one and scattering six hits.

In his last two starts, Phillips has posted a 2.25 ERA, going a combined 12.0 IP with 10 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 3 BB and 12 K, dropping his opponent batting average by .107 along the way.

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.

Over his last three starts, Hoglund boasts a 2.19 ERA with 3 ER, 0 BB, 5 K. He's 2.2 innings pitched short of the 1.0 IP/game minimum, but if he qualified, the freshman would be tied for first in the SEC with one walk on the year.

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.

GREEN IS BACK

Senior Connor Green has emerged as a linchpin in the Rebel bullpen in 2019. Green posted a 2.73 ERA in 20 appearnces as a freshman but saw his role diminished the two following seasons, including a switch to a submarine delivery as junior. Now, he's back over the top and better than ever. Green picked up his first two career wins in back-to-back games—Sunday at Tulane and Tuesday against UT Martin.

Green was outstanding once again against Long Beach State. He went 2.0 innings without allowing a baserunner, striking out two to bridge the gap in the Rebels' 7-6 win. He had another strong outing against ECU, throwing one inning and allowing just one hit, striking out two.

MILLER TIME

Junior Austin Miller has been outstanding out of the bullpen for Ole Miss in 2019. He is 10th in SEC in ERA (1.06), T7th in SEC with 2 ER allowed and is fourth on team with 17 strikeouts on the season.

SWAYZE SHOWER SEASON

With 22 home runs on the season, Ole Miss ranks 9th nationally and second in the SEC. The Rebels are averaging 1.29 home runs per game, good for 13th in the nation and second in the conference.

SEC LEADERS

Ole Miss has a trio of players who are all over the top of the SEC hitting charts. Ole Miss has the SEC leader in hits (Olenek), RBI (Keenan) and home runs (Dillard).

DILLY DILLY!

Thomas Dillard's incredible start to the 2019 season has drawn some major national recognition. He ranks in the top 30 nationally in home runs (8th), slugging percentage (26th), total bases (14th), runs scored (25th) and walks (27th).

Week 2 Honors
• SEC Player of the Week
• Collegiate Baseball National Player of the Week
• NCBWA National Hitter of the Week
• Golden Spikes Award Performance of the Week

OLEY ON FIRE

Ryan Olenek picked up where he left off after hitting .350 and earning All-SEC First Team honors in 2018. In addition to being named a Preseason All-American by Collegiate Baseball, in Week 3 of 2019, Olenek was named a National Player of the Week by the Publication.

The senior out of Winter Park, Florida, has reached base in all 17 games this season and is sixth in the nation and tied for 1st in the SEC in hits with 29. He's also 25th nationally with 21 runs scored, 26th in batting avg. at .439.

OK, TK

Tyler Keenan had a tremendous rookie campaign, earning Freshman All-American honors, as well as an All-SEC Second Team nod going into 2019—and he has shown no signs of a sophomore slump.

Keenan is No. 3 in the nation and No. 1 in the SEC in RBI with 28 on the year. He's also in the top 30 in the nation in sacrifice flies (13th) and home runs (29th).

Z-BO HEATING UP

In his last 11 games, junior first baseman Cole Zabowski is hitting .350/.435/.581 with 14 hits, 10 runs scored, 2 doubles, 2 home runs and 12 RBI. He's hitting .370 with runners on base and .500 (9-of-18) with runners in scoring position, and has four two-out RBI in that span.

The junior from Lawrenceville, Georgia, has been especially dangerous at the plate in the last five games, slashing .421/.522/.623 with 8 hits, 1 double, 1 home run and 8 RBI. In that span, he is hitting .400 with runners on base and .600 (6-of-10) with runners in scoring position.

CATCHER U

Junior Cooper Johnson is off to an excellent start to 2019 and is poised to be the next in a line of prolific catchers to play for head coach Mike Bianco. Johnson is hitting just over .300 with four doubles, eight runs scored, two home runs and six RBI. He also has just one passed ball through 10 games and has erased four would-be base stealers. Johnson hit his fourth career home run in the ninth inning Wednesday at #7 Louisville.

GRAHAM GRABS DH ROLE

Freshman Kevin Graham has started the last five games at the designated hitter spot, and the rookie out of O'Fallon, Missouri, has risen to the occasion. In the first at-bat of his first career start, he picked up his first career hit—a home run. He has since become the second Rebel, alongside Thomas Dillard, to record a single, double, triple and home run thus season.

Over five starts, Graham is slashing .313/.450/.750 with two doubles, a triple, a home run and five RBI.

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Players Mentioned

Tate Blackman

Parker Caracci

Chase Cockrell

Thomas Dillard

Will Ethridge

Brady Feigl

Kevin Graham

Connor Green

Josh Hall

Gunnar Hoglund

Cooper Johnson

Tyler Keenan

James McArthur

Austin Miller

Hunter Nabors

Ryan Olenek

Zack Phillips

Ryan Rolison

Cole Zabowski

The University of Mississippi Athletics