Softball Ready for Rivalry Matchup in Starkville

			NO. 17 OLE MISS (31-11, 9-5 SEC) vs. MISSISSIPPI STATE (26-1, 3-12 SEC) Starkville, Miss. Nusz Park (1,000)
Ole Miss Notes • Mississippi State Notes • SEC Notes

Friday, April 19 1 p.m.	Friday, April 19 5 p.m.	Saturday, April 20 1 p.m.
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LEADING OFF
• Heading into the home-stretch of the season, Ole Miss takes on rival Mississippi State in a three-game series in Starkville.
• The two teams were originally scheduled to play Thursday through Saturday but due to forecasted weather for Thursday, the schedule was shifted to include a doubleheader on Friday in lieu of a Thursday matchup. Friday's second game will still be televised on the SEC Network.
• While the Bulldogs lead the all-time series by a 39-26 margin, the recent results have been slightly more in favor of the Rebels, with Ole Miss winning six of the last 10 meetings.
• After claiming the series over Missouri two games to one, Ole Miss followed up with a 13-0 victory in five innings over UT Martin on Tuesday.
• The Rebels have been on a roll through the second half of the 2018 season, winning 23 of their last 28 games.
• Ole Miss' 9-5 start to SEC play is the best record through 16 conference games in program-history, never having won more than 11 games in league play in a single season. The Rebels are currently in 4th place in the SEC standings.
• The Rebels have yet to lose in 2019 when outhitting their opponent, earning the win in all 23 occurrences this season.
• Ole Miss has racked up 10 wins over teams ranked in the top-25 in the nation. Last season, the Rebels earned just eight ranked wins over the entirety of the season.
• Ole Miss remains inside the top-20 in all three national polls, coming in at No. 17 in the NFCA Poll, No. 16 in the USA Softball Poll and even as high as No. 10 in the Softball America Poll.
• The Rebels came in at No. 14 to remain in high standing in the latest NCAA RPI report. The Rebels own 11 wins over top-30 RPI teams, including three in the top-15 and seven in the top-20.

SCOUTING REPORT
Mississippi State is in its 8th season under head coach Vann Stuedeman. During Stuedeman's first seven seasons, she had led the Bulldogs to six NCAA tournament appearances and at least 33 wins six times. prior to making the move to the Magnolia State, Stuedeman coached for 11 seasons as an assistant at Alabama, helping the Crimson Tide to three SEC Championships and six trips to the Women's College World Series.

The Bulldogs enter this week's rivalry series with a 26-17 overall record, sitting in 12th in the SEC standings at 3-12. MSU has struggled as of late, falling in five of its last seven contests, though all of those losses came to top-10 teams in No. 8 Tennessee and No. 9 LSU. Against common opponents (UCF, Memphis, UT Martin, Central Arkansas and Kentucky), the Bulldogs have posted a 5-3 record compared to the Rebels' 6-1 mark.

MSU boasts one of the most powerful offenses in the nation, ranking 13th in DivisionI and third in the SEC with 1.37 home runs per game. The main reason behind the gaudy power numbers has been the play of sophomore infielder Mia Davidson and junior utility player Fa Leilua, who rank first and fourth, respectively, in the nation with 22 and 20 big flies. Davidson hits for average just as much as she does for power, sitting with the fourth-highest batting average in the SEC at .434, driving in 54 RBIs to rank seventh in the NCAA. Leilua boasts a more than respectable .366 average, posting 45 RBIs to rank eighth in the SEC and 22nd in the nation. Junior pitcher/utility player Candace Denis and senior outfielder Kat Moore are two more names to watch, with Denis ranking second on the team with a .368 average and Moore sitting at .312 with five doubles, four triples and eight home runs.

In the circle, Sophomore Emily Williams has eaten up a bulk of the work with 102 innings, posting an 8-6 record in 26 appearances and 15 starts, registering a 2.68 ERA. Williams has been feast or famine over the course of the season with 105 strikeouts and 95 walks in 2019. Junior Alyssa Loza and freshman Grace Fagan have also seen consistent action with 64.0 and 63.2 innings, respectively. Loza sits at 8-1 with a 3.50 ERA, while Fagan has earned a 5-7 record with a 3.19 ERA.

BULLYING THE BULLDOGS
Over the past two seasons, Kylan Becker has been an absolute nuisance to the Rebels' biggest rival, Mississippi State. In last season's series, the speedy outfielder was a nearly impossible out, going 3-for-5 with four walks, reaching in 7-of-9 plate appearances. Add that in to a 3-for-6 showing at the plate in the two meetings between the two teams in 2017 and Becker has gone 6-for-11 against MSU the past two seasons with four walks, two runs, an RBI and one stolen base. The offensive output is even more impressive when you consider that Becker was retired by the Bulldogs in all six at-bats during her freshman season.

TILLMANN ON THE RISE
After starting out the season with a 1-2 record, sophomore pitcher Ava Tillmann has been on the rise. The righty flamethrower has won each of her last six decisions to improve to 7-2 on the year. Despite falling in two of her first three starts, the Georgia native has had solid showings all season long, allowing two earned runs or less in 14-of-16 appearances, including 1 run or less 10 times.

TAKE FOUR
With a Friday doubleheader sweep over Missouri, Ole Miss locked up its fourth SEC series victory of the season, the most series wins for the Rebels in program-history with three series left to play. Ole Miss has yet to drop a series so far this season, with the only non-win coming in the weather-shortened two-game split with South Carolina. Ole Miss currently sits in fourth in the league standings with a 9-5 record, one half game back of third. The Rebels have never finished higher than eighth in the final SEC standings.

CRUNCH TIME
During her first collegiate season, freshman Mikayla Allee has shown a knack for coming up clutch in the biggest moments. The Corona, California native has just seven total RBIs to her credit in 2019 but of the seven, four have been game-winners. Allee was up to her old tricks in last Wednesday's battle with UAB, drawing a walk with the bases loaded to score the winning run and give Ole Miss the walk-off win. It was the second walk-off RBI of the year for the Rebel shortstop after she squeezed home the winner earlier in the campaign against Pitt.

ZIP, ZILCH, NADA
With the Rebel offense struggling to find its footing in last Friday's night cap against Missouri, Ole Miss needed a lights out performance in the circle from Molly Jacobsen. That's exactly what the Rebels got as the junior held the Tigers to just three hits in her fifth shutout of the season. The five shutouts is tied for the fourth-most in Ole Miss-history, just two away from a tie for seventh.

THE CLUTCH GENE
In its doubleheader sweep against Mizzou, Ole Miss received some clutch hitting from one of its senior leaders, Brittany Finney, who knocked the winning hit in both games. After surrendering the lead in the circle earlier in the game, the Wichita, Kansas native atoned in the bottom of the eighth in the early game, taking a pitch way past the left field fence for a two-run walk-off home run. Not long after, Finney came up big again in the second game, lining a double down the left field line for what turned out to be the only RBI of Ole Miss' 1-0 victory.

THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE OXFORD
While the Rebels have been in winning form for much of the season, the level of play has been ramped up to an even higher level inside the walls at the Ole Miss Softball Complex. Ole Miss sits at 18-3 in the comfy confines of their home stadium, having won every single non-conference matchup and going 6-3 in conference play in Oxford. Junior Autumn Gillespie has especially dialed in her game at the Ole Miss Softball Complex, batting .345 with 9 of her 11 extra-base hits and 14 of her 18 RBIs coming in Oxford.

RUN AT YOUR OWN RISK
Over her two seasons at Ole Miss, junior catcher Autumn Gillespie has established herself as one of the most feared arms not only in the SEC but across the nation. The Redlands, California native leads the league having caught 12 runners attempting to steal. With just 20 total steals attempted against her in 2019, Gillespie has gunned down 60 percent of runners risky enough to attempt to swipe a base.

GO THREE! GO THREE!
With speed in bunches Mike Smith's teams are always extremely aggressive on the base path and that aggression shows up when looking at Ole Miss' power numbers. The Rebels rank seventh in the nation in triples per game at 0.38. Kylan Becker's seven triples is third-most in Division I, while Autumn Gillespie's four triple-baggers ranks 28th in the nation and third in the SEC.

NO EASY BASES
If there is one area the Ole Miss pitching staff has particularly excelled at this season it has been the ability to keep the ball in the strike zone. The Rebels rank 13th in the nation with a 3.79 strikeout-to-walk ratio, allowing one or fewer bases on balls in 25 games in 2019. Ole Miss ranks tied for 12th in the nation with 67 total walks, second fewest in the conference. Additionally, Ole Miss boasts two of the nation's top-100 pitchers in walks allowed per seven innings pitched in Ava Tillmann (68th, 1.50) and Molly Jacobsen (82nd, 1.58).

STINGY IN THE CIRCLE
One of the keys to success for the Rebels in 2019 has been the pitching staff's ability to keep runs to a minimum for the opposing side. Ole Miss ranks fourth in the SEC with a 2.06 team ERA, the 26th-lowest in the nation. When the pitching staff is in prime form, the Rebels are nearly unbeatable, posting a 22-1 record when allowing two runs or fewer this season. The Rebels have allowed more than three runs in just 13 games in 2019, registering a 26-2 record in all other contests.

BOMB SQUAD
After posting just 27 home runs all of last season, Ole Miss has already registered 32 big flies in 2019, putting the Rebels on pace to crank out just under 40 round trippers on the year. After Abbey Latham led Ole Miss with seven homers in 2018, Jessica Puk and Brittany Finney already bested that number with eight big flies apiece to pace the Rebels, with Latham not far behind at seven dingers.

FAST STARTS
The Rebels have wasted absolutely no time in getting action rolling so far this season. The Rebels have scored in the first inning in 22 of their 42 contests, posting a 20-2 record in those ball games. Ole Miss has failed to put a runner on in the opening frame just eight times in 2019. Additionally, the Rebels have cracked the scoreboard first 30 times this season, going 25-5 in those games. In general, the Rebs have done most of their damage in the early going, scoring 136 of their 230 total runs for the season in the game's first three innings.

RUNNIN' REBS
During the Mike Smith era, Ole Miss has always been known for using its speed on the base path. The 2019 season has been no different as the Rebels have used their speed and aggressive nature on the bases to create havoc for opposing defenses. The Rebels have stolen successfully on 93-of-115 attempts to rank second in the SEC and 12th in the nation in steals per game at 2.21. Kylan Becker leads the team and ranks third in the league with 23 swiped bags, with Kaylee Horton tied for fourth with 16 and Abbey Latham in solo possession of sixth-place with 15 steals.

For all Ole Miss softball news and information, go to OleMissSports.com and follow the Rebels on Twitter at @OleMissSoftball, on Facebook at Ole MissSoftball and on Instagram at Instagram.com/olemisssoftball. Fans can also follow head coach Mike Smith on Twitter at @msmithsb16.

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Players Mentioned

Mikayla Allee

Kylan Becker

Brittany Finney

Autumn Gillespie

Kaylee Horton

Molly Jacobsen

Abbey Latham

Jessica Puk

Ava Tillmann

The University of Mississippi Athletics