Baseball Hosts No. 6 Texas A&M for SEC Series at Swayze

			#17 OLE MISS (27-15, 10-8 SEC) vs. #6 TEXAS A&M (30-12-1, 11-6-1 SEC) April 25-27 Oxford, Miss. Oxford-University Stadium/Swayze Field (11,477)
Ole Miss Notes • Texas A&M Notes • SEC Notes

Thursday, Apr. 25 8 p.m.	Friday, Apr. 26 6:30 p.m.	Saturday, Apr. 27 2 p.m.
PROJECTED STARTERS Ole Miss: RHP Will Ethridge 5-3, 2.54 ERA, 43 K, 19 BB Texas A&M: LHP John Doxakis 5-2, 1.87 ERA, 71 K, 9 BB	PROJECTED STARTERS Ole Miss: LHP Doug Nikhazy 4-3, 3.77 ERA, 45 K, 18 BB Texas A&M: LHP Asa Lacy 6-2, 1.97 ERA, 89 K, 26 BB	PROJECTED STARTERS Ole Miss: TBA Texas A&M: TBA
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LEADING OFF
• Ole Miss enters the weekend coming off a series defeat at Auburn, in which the Rebels fell in extra innings in the deciding Game 3. The Rebels dropped their midweek non-conference meeting with MSU.
• With the Rebels' next win, head coach Mike Bianco will move to a tie for third on the all-time SEC coaching wins chart at 738, matching South Carolina's Ray Tanner.
• Ole Miss is No. 2 in the nation in average attendance, a spot the Rebels have held for the last four seasons. The Rebels are 22-5-1 in SEC home series since 2014.
• The Rebels have scored 318 runs this season, good for 4th in the SEC and 17th in the country. They're also averaging 7.6 runs per game, the fourth-most in the conference and 19th in the country.
• Ole Miss is third in the SEC and No. 21 in the country with a .402 team on-base percentage. The Rebels have drawn 223 walks on the season, good for 16th in the nation and fourth in the conference.
• The Rebels have stolen 70 bases this season, the fourth-most in the SEC.
• Junior shortstop Grae Kessinger has reached base successfully in the last 30 straight games. Kessinger leads the SEC in hits, RBI, batting average, total bases and slugging percentage in SEC play. In SEC games, he is hitting .453 with 19 runs scored, 21 RBI and 11 extra-base hits.
• Sophomore third baseman Tyler Keenan is No. 11 in the nation and second in the SEC with 51 RBI.
• Junior catcher Cooper Johnson has thrown out 15 would-be base stealers this season, the most in the SEC. Offensively, Johnson has hit five home runs, four of which have come in the 8th or 9th inning.

BIANCO CLIMBING RECORD BOOKS

When Ole Miss defeated Auburn on Friday night, head coach Mike Bianco moved one win shy of former South Carolina head coach Ray Tanner, now Athletic Director at the school, for 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.

CLOSE DEFEATS

Of the Rebels' 15 losses, 14 have come by four runs or fewer, and 12 have come by three runs or fewer.

KEEPING IT CLEAN

Ole Miss is 15-4 on the season when it doesn't make an error.

AHEAD OF THE GAME

Ole Miss is 17-6 on the season when it scores the game's first run. The Rebels are 14-5 when they score in the first inning.

UNDER THE LIGHTS

Ole Miss is 11-4 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)

AGAINST THE AGGIES

Ole Miss is 5-2 against Texas A&M over the last two seasons. In the Aggies' last trip to Oxford, Ole Miss fell in Game 1 but won the final two to secure the 2017 series victory.

Last season, the Rebels won a thrilling series in College Station, where all three games were decided by just one run. Texas A&M jumped out to a lead in the first game, but Ole Miss battled back, using a three-run eighth inning and a game-winning RBI single by Thomas Dillard in the 5-4 win. Will Ethridge earned that win, while Parker Caracci picked up the save. The Aggies claimed a commanding 7-2 lead in Game 2 and held on for a 7-6 win despite a pinch-hit grand slam by Michael Fitzsimmons. The Rebels captured the Game 3 win as Caracci stranded the tying run at second base in the ninth inning of a 7-6 win.

The Rebels then made it 3-1 on the season against the Aggies with a 2-1 win in the SEC Tournament semifinals, in which Jordan Fowler and Will Ethridge teamed up to shut down the Texas A&M offense. In those four meetings, several returning Rebels were key contributors. Ryan Olenek hit .538 and Tyler Keenan logged a .429 average with a home run, while Cole Zabowski also homered against the Aggies while hitting .357. Caracci and Ethridge logged three saves and struck out 16 with a combined 0.81 ERA over a combined 11 innings.

Ole Miss first faced Texas A&M for a three-game series in 1998 in College Station. The Rebels decidedly captured the win in the first meeting, a 17-3 win for the Rebels—though the Aggies went on to win the series. Texas A&M's first trip to Oxford came in 2013. The Rebels again won the first game of the series, only to see the No. 24 Aggies come back and take the three-game set.

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 went eight straight outings without allowing a run. His streak spanned 13.1 innings, in which he allowed just six hits with three walks, while striking out 19.

SWAYZE SHOWER SEASON

With 47 home runs on the season, Ole Miss ranks 25th nationally and 6th in the SEC. The Rebels are averaging 1.12 home runs per game, good for 32nd in the nation and sixth in the conference.

REBS ARE RUNNIN'

Ole Miss is No. 17 in the nation and No. 4 in the SEC with 318 runs scored on the season. The Rebels are averaging 7.6 runs per game, good for 19th nationally and fourth in the conference.

CROOKED NUMBERS

Ole Miss has scored 3 or more runs in an inning 42 times this season. The Rebels have had 18 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. 11 in the nation and No. 2 in the SEC in RBI with 51 on the year. His 1.21 RBI/game average is also second in the conference and is 30th nationally.

BIG GAME GRAE

Junior Grae Kessinger has been on fire since the start of SEC play. He has hits in 21 of 26 games since league play started and has reached base in 30 straight games. His reached-base streak stands as the longest by a Rebel since Tanner Mathis reached in 41 straight in 2011.

He leads the SEC in hits, RBI, batting average, total bases and slugging percentage in league play. He's slashing .453/.506/.680 in conference games with 19 runs scored, 21 RBI and 11 extra-base hits (8 doubles, 3 HR).

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 29 of 37 games this season and is sixth in the SEC in 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 drew some major national recognition as the junior slugger swept the national awards in Week 2.

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 four passed balls in 37 games played and has erased 15 would-be base stealers, the most in the SEC. He has also allowed the fewest stolen bases (12) 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

Michael Fitzsimmons

Jordan Fowler

Gunnar Hoglund

Cooper Johnson

Tyler Keenan

Grae Kessinger

James McArthur

Doug Nikhazy

Ryan Olenek

Ryan Rolison

Cole Zabowski

The University of Mississippi Athletics