Baseball Heads to the Plains for SEC Series at Auburn

			#11 OLE MISS (26-12, 9-6 SEC) at #23 AUBURN (24-13, 8-7 SEC) April 18-20 Auburn, Ala. Hitchcock Field at Plainsman Park (4,096)
Ole Miss Notes • Auburn Notes • SEC Notes

Thursday, Apr. 18 6 p.m.	Friday, Apr. 19 6 p.m.	Saturday, Apr. 20 1 p.m.
PROJECTED STARTERS Ole Miss: RHP Will Ethridge 5-2, 1.76 ERA, 38 K, 15 BB Auburn: LHP Garrett Wade 3-0, 5.47 ERA, 34 K, 24 BB	PROJECTED STARTERS Ole Miss: LHP Doug Nikhazy 3-3, 3.57 ERA, 41 K, 15 BB Auburn: RHP Tanner Burns 4-1, 2.05 ERA, 76 K, 13 BB	PROJECTED STARTERS Ole Miss: RHP Gunnar Hoglund 1-1, 4.60 ERA, 28 K, 6 BB Auburn: LHP Brooks Fuller 2-1, 2.32 ERA, 20 K, 25 BB
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LEADING OFF
• Ole Miss enters the weekend coming off of a 5-2 midweek win over Memphis. The Rebels will look to get back on track in SEC play after dropping a Sunday doubleheader at home against Kentucky last weekend.
• With Tuesday's win, head coach Mike Bianco moved past former Kentucky HC Keith Madison to become the 4th all-time winningest coach in SEC history. If the Rebels win two this weekend, he'll move to a tie for 3rd all-time.
• Ole Miss has won five of its last six meetings with Auburn, including a sweep during the regular season in Oxford last year. The two squads then met twice in the SEC Tournament, with Auburn winning the first, 9-3, and Ole Miss taking the second, 7-0. Ole Miss holds an 88-87 advantage in the all-time series.
• The Rebels have scored the ninth-most runs in the nation this season at 303, good for 2nd in the SEC. They're also averaging 8.1 runs per game, the second-most in the conference and 19th in the country.
• Ole Miss leads the SEC and is No. 10 in the country with a .410 team on-base percentage.
• Junior shortstop Grae Kessinger has been on a tear, improving his batting average by .117 since the start of SEC play. Last week, Kessinger hit .727 (8-for-11) with an .824 on-base percentage and 1.091 slugging percentage. He scored five runs and drove in five more. He has reached base successfully in the last 26 straight games.
• Junior first baseman/DH Cole Zabowski enters the weekend on an 12-game hitting streak. In that span, Zabowski is slashing .426/.481/.766 with four doubles, four home runs, 12 runs scored and 17 RBI.
• Sophomore IF/OF Anthony Servideo has emerged as a dangerous offensive weapon over the last 10 games, hitting .441 with 13 runs scored and 15 hits, including his first career triple.
• Sophomore third baseman Tyler Keenan is No. 6 in the nation and first in the SEC with 49 RBI.
• Parker Caracci has gone 11.1 innings w/ 0 runs allowed, giving up just five hits with three walks and 15 strikeouts.

BIANCO CLIMBING RECORD BOOKS

When Ole Miss Memphis Tuesday night, head coach Mike Bianco moved past former Kentucky head coach Keith Madison to become the fourth all-time winningest coach in Southeastern Conference history, earning his 736th career win.

When Ole Miss wins its 28th game of the season, Bianco will tie former South Carolina head coach Ray Tanner, now Athletic Director at the school, at third place in the SEC coaching record books at 738.

On Friday, April 5, Ole Miss turned in a dominant 12-4 win over Florida to deliver Bianco's 300th win in SEC play.

REBS ROCK GATORS

Ole Miss won its second straight SEC series and its third of the season, outscoring Florida 40-18 over three games. The Rebels tied a program record for the most runs scored in an SEC series, a mark set in 1957 against Vanderbilt. Ole Miss posted the three highest run totals of the week in the SEC with 12, 16 and 12 runs.

Six Rebels hit over .400 in the series, and Ole Miss hit .415 as a team with a .493 on-base percentage. Ten different Rebels drove in a run in the sweep, while 11 different players scored a run.

CLOSE DEFEATS

All of the Rebels' 12 losses have come by four runs or fewer, and 10 have come by three runs or fewer.

KEEPING IT CLEAN

Ole Miss is 15-3 on the season when it doesn't make an error.

AHEAD OF THE GAME

Ole MIss is 16-3 on the season when it scores the game's first run. The Rebels are 14-3 when they score in the first inning.

UNDER THE LIGHTS

Ole Miss is 10-2 in night games this season.

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. Full awards list on page 10.

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)
Doug Nikhazy - SEC Freshman of the Week (Week 8)

STARTING OFF

Ole Miss must replace its entire weekend starting rotation as Ryan Rolison (1st Round), Brady Feigl (5th Round) and James McArthur (12th Round) were all selected in the 2018 MLB Draft.

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.

Ethridge turned in the best start of his career Friday night against Kentucky, going 7.0 scoreless innings with just three hits allowed, no walks and 11 strikeouts in the Rebels' 8-2 victory.

NIKHAZY FLIRTS WITH NO-NO

Freshman lefty Doug Nikhazy has moved into the Saturday night role and didn't disappoint in his first weekend start and first SEC start. Nikhazy took a no-hitter into the seventh inning and exited after 7.2, having allowed no runs on two hits. Parker Caracci closed out the win, and the two combined a two-hit shutout. Nikhazy became the first Rebel freshman to start a shutout in SEC play since Drew Pomeranz on April 5, 2008, against Vanderbilt.

The lefty out of Windermere, Florida, was named SEC Freshman of the Week after shutting down Florida this past week, going 6.0 innings with just one run allowed and six strikeouts.

Prior to his SEC starting debut, Nikhazy was called upon for two tough midweek starts against ranked opponents, No. 14 ECU and No. 7 Louisville. In those starts, Nikhazy allowed three runs in each game, yielding four hits against ECU and five against Louisville, going a total of 11 innings between the two starts, striking out 12. In six relief appearances, Nikhazy has allowed only two runs over 6.1 innings.

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.

After a slow start to 2019, Caracci has caught fire with the start of SEC play. Caracci hasn't allowed a run in six straight outings. He has strung together 11.1 straight scoreless frames, allowing five hits with just three walks and 15 strikeouts in that span. The redshirt junior out of Jackson, Mississippi, threw 3.2 scoreless to seal the series sweep against Florida and earn his first win of the season.

OH MY, T-MY

Tyler Myers has emerged as an electric arm out of the Rebel bullpen. The junior out of Houston, Texas, has allowed just two runs in his last 18.1 innings of work. In that span, Myers has allowed just 10 hits, striking out 13 and walking just three. Prior to yielding two runs in 5.1 innings of work against Florida, Myers went 10.2 innings without giving up a run.

MILLER TIME

Austin Miller has been perhaps the top shutdown arm out of the bullpen for Ole Miss this season. He has made a team-high 17 appearances in relief and leads the Rebels with 42 strikeouts compared to just nine walks, three of which have come as intentional walks. The junior out of North Liberty, Iowa, hasn't allowed a run in his last three outings and has totaled 12 scoreless outings on the season.

SWAYZE SHOWER SEASON

With 42 home runs on the season, Ole Miss ranks 20th nationally and 4th in the SEC. The Rebels are averaging 1.11 home runs per game, good for 31st in the nation and sixth in the conference.

REBS ARE RUNNIN'

Ole Miss is No. 9 in the nation and No. 2 in the SEC with 303 runs scored on the season. The Rebels are averaging 8.0 runs per game, good for 14th nationally and third in the conference.

CROOKED NUMBERS

Ole Miss has scored 3 or more runs in an inning 41 times this season. The Rebels have had 17 three-run innings, 9 four-run innings, 7 five-run innings, 3 six-run innings, 2 seven-run innings, 2 eight-run innings and one nine-run inning.

DOUBLE DIGITS

Ole Miss scored in double figures 15 times this season, including a season-high of 25 against UAPB. Ole Miss reached double figures in all three games of the Florida series. The Rebels have reached double figures in hits 18 times, including a season high of 21 against UAPB and 20 in Game 2 against Florida.

TK, THE RBI MACHINE

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. 6 in the nation and No. 1 in the SEC in RBI with 49 on the year. His 1.32 RBI/game average is also 1st in the conference and is 19th nationally.

BIG GAME GRAE

Junior Grae Kessinger has been on fire since the start of SEC play. He has hits in 17 of 22 games since league play started and has reached base in 26 straight games.

Kessinger hit .571 in the Florida series with eight hits, five runs scored, two doubles and six RBI. He's leading the Rebels with a .404 average in SEC play with 12 runs scored, 21 hits, seven doubles and 13 RBI. He stayed hot this past week, hitting .727 (8-for-11) with an .824 on-base percentage and 1.091 slugging percentage. Kessinger scored five runs, drove in five and notched one double and one home run while walking four times and earning his way on through two HBPs.

OLEEEEEY, OLEY, OLEY, OLEY

Ryan Olenek picked up where he left off in 2018, when the senior out of Winter Park, Florida, hit .350 and eared All-SEC First Team honors. 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.

Olenek has hits in 28 of 36 games this season and is sixth in the SEC in both hits and batting average. Adding 11 doubles already this season, Oley has 51 doubles in his Rebel career, tying David Dellucci and Burney Hutchinson for fifth in Rebel history. He is nine shy of the all-time record of 60, owned by Brad Henderson.

DILLY DILLY!

Thomas Dillard's incredible start to the 2019 season has drawn some major national recognition. In addition to sweeping the national weekly awards in Week 2, the junior out of Oxford ranks in the top 50 nationally in walks (8th), walks per game (21st) and runs scored (48th).

Dillard's 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

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 has just two passed balls in 33 games played and has erased 14 would-be base stealers, the most in the SEC. He has also allowed the fewest stolen bases (11) among starting catchers in the SEC.

Johnson was named to the Buster Posey Award Watch List (formerly known as the Johnny Bench Award), given annually to the best catcher in college baseball.

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Players Mentioned

Parker Caracci

Thomas Dillard

Will Ethridge

Brady Feigl

Gunnar Hoglund

Cooper Johnson

Tyler Keenan

Grae Kessinger

James McArthur

Austin Miller

Tyler Myers

Doug Nikhazy

Ryan Olenek

Ryan Rolison

Anthony Servideo

Cole Zabowski

The University of Mississippi Athletics