Four-Game Road Trip Opens Tuesday at Arkansas State

			#15 OLE MISS (32-20, 15-12 SEC) vs. ARKANSAS STATE (25-26, 11-17 SUN BELT) May 14, 2019 Jonesboro, Ark. Tomlinson Stadium/Kell Field (1,200)
Ole Miss Notes • SEC Notes

Tuesday, May 14

PROJECTED STARTERS
Ole Miss: LHP Zack Phillips
4-2, 5.28 ERA, 43 K, 20 BB, 46.0 IP
Arkansas State: TBA

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LEADING OFF
• Ole Miss enters the week coming off a series sweep against Mississippi State. The Rebels are tied for third in the SEC Western Division going into the final week of conference play.
• The Rebels close the regular season with a four-game road trip against Arkansas State and Tennessee.
• On Monday, Grae Kessinger and Tyler Keenan were selected as two of the five finalists for the C Spire Ferriss Trophy, given annually to the best college baseball player in Mississippi.
• Junior shortstop Grae Kessinger has reached base successfully in the last 40 straight games. In SEC play, Kessinger leads the conference in batting average and hits. His reached-base streak is the 10th-longest active streak in the nation and the longest active streak in the conference.
• The Week 12 SEC Player of the Week, Cooper Johnson has caught 17 runners stealing, one shy of the league-high.
• Of the Rebels' 20 losses, 17 have come by 4 runs or fewer, and 15 have come by 3 runs or fewer.
• Ole Miss has walked the second-fewest batters and is No. 5 in the SEC in Ks during conference play.
• Ole Miss is No. 15 in the nation in strikeout-to-walk ratio at 3.88. The Rebels are 19th nationally and second in the SEC with 3.17 walks allowed per nine innings.
• Ole Miss is No. 23 in the nation and No. 4 in the SEC with 379 runs scored on the season.
• Ole Miss has scored three or more runs in an inning 49 times this season.
• Ole Miss scored in double figures 17 times this season. The Rebels have reached double figures in hits 21 times.
• Ryan Olenek, Parker Caracci, Connor Green and Chase Cockrell, walked across the stage last weekend and join Fall 2018 grad Michael Fitzsimmons as the five Ole Miss players to wear the SEC Graduate patch. David Dellucci is one of 12 former Rebel baseball players to come back and finish their degree during the 2018-19 school year. (See p. 10 for list.)

BIANCO CLIMBING RECORD BOOKS

Head coach Mike Bianco began the season fifth on the all-time SEC coaching wins chart, and since, the Rebel head coach has moved to third. When Ole Miss defeated Texas A&M 13-3 on Friday, April 26, Bianco won his 739th game as the Rebel head coach, moving him to third all-time past South Carolina's Ray Tanner. 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' 20 losses, 17 have come by four runs or fewer, and 15 have come by three runs or fewer.

KEEPING IT CLEAN

Ole Miss is 16-7 on the season when it doesn't make an error.

AHEAD OF THE GAME

Ole Miss is 20-9 on the season when it scores the game's first run. The Rebels are 14-7 when they score in the first inning.

UNDER THE LIGHTS

Ole Miss is 14-8 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, Week 11)
Cooper Johnson - SEC Player of the Week (Week 12)

REBELS VS. RED WOLVES

Ole Miss leads Arkansas State 75-23 in the all-time series as the two squads meet for the 99th time. The Rebels have won the last three games in the seires, with their last defeat coming in 2017 in Jonesboro by the score of 5-0. The Red Wolves have won two of the last three in Jonesboro, taking the 2016 matchup 8-6.

In last year's trip to Tomlinson Stadium, the Rebels jumped out to a 10-2 lead and cruised to a 15-8 victory. Grae Kessinger led the way, going 3-for-4 with three runs scored and three RBI. Ryan Olenek, Cole Zabowski, Tyler Keenan, Michael Fitzsimmons and Cooper Johnson all had multi-hit days as well. Thomas Dillard, Zabowski and Keenan all joined Kessinger in scoring multiple runs.

Earlier this season, Arkansas State jumped out to a 2-0 lead in Oxford in the top of the first inning, but the Rebels answered with five runs in the bottom half and never looked back, plating five more in the fourth and four in the fifth en route to a 15-3 win. Kessinger again went 3-for-4 with three runs scored. Anthony Servideo went 2-for-4 with two runs and two RBI. Keenan drove in a team-high five runs and scored two, going 3-for-5. Dillard was 2-for-4 with two runs and three RBI. Olenek was 4-for-5, scoring two and driving in two. Zabowski touched home once and drove in another on a 3-for-4 day. Houston Roth picked up the win, combining with Doug Nikhazy, Connor Green, Jordan Fowler and Tyler Myers as the bullpen went seven scoreless innings.

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.

SEC STRONG

Ole Miss has walked the second-fewest batters in SEC play, is No. 5 in the SEC in strikeouts during conference play.

FILLING UP THE ZONE

Ole Miss is No. 15 in the nation in strikeout-to-walk ratio at 3.88. The Rebels are 19th nationally and second in the SEC with 3.17 walks allowed per nine innings.

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 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 CRAZIES

Freshman lefty Doug Nikhazy has moved into the Saturday night role and has been electric. He didn't disappoint in his first weekend start and first SEC start at Missouri. 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, going 6.0 innings with just one run allowed and six strikeouts. He turned in another terrific performance last week against Texas A&M, striking out a career-high 10 in 7.0 innings with no walks, four hits and just one earned run allowed to once again earn SEC Freshman of the Week honors. The 10 strikeouts came as the most by a Rebel freshman since Will Ethridge fanned 10 in his collegiate debut.

Nikhazy is the only player in the conference to be named SEC Freshman of the Week twice during SEC play this season. Nikhazy's two awards and Tyler Keenan's two Freshman of the Week nods in 2018 made it back-to-back years that the Rebels have had a player bring home the honor twice during SEC play.

He is No. 11 in SEC with 2.98 ERA during conference play, a mark that is second-best among SEC freshmen behind Georgia's Cole Wilcox. Nikhazy is tied for the sixth-most wins in SEC play (5). During league play, Nikhazy is 5-2 with a 2.98 ERA, 46 K, 16 BB. He has allowed two runs or fewer in five SEC starts. In his last two starts, he is 2-0 with 13 H, 4 ER, 4 BB, 19 K over 19.1 innings.

GUNNAR ON TARGET

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. Hoglund turned in a quality start in his last outing at Swayze against Texas A&M, going a career-long 6.0 innings with just two runs allowed on five hits with no walks and three strikeouts to help the Rebels sweep the Aggies.

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.

REBS ARE RUNNIN'

Ole Miss is No. 23 in the nation and No. 4 in the SEC with 379 runs scored on the season. The Rebels are averaging 7.3 runs per game, good for 25th nationally and fourth in the conference.

CROOKED NUMBERS

Ole Miss has scored 3 or more runs in an inning 49 times this season. The Rebels have had 21 three-run innings, 11 four-run innings, 7 five-run innings, 5 six-run innings, 2 seven-run innings, 2 eight-run innings and one nine-run inning.

DOUBLE DIGITS

Ole Miss scored in double figures 17 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 21 times, including a season high of 23 in Sunday's series-deciding 10-inning win at LSU.

40 SHADES OF GRAE

Junior Grae Kessinger has been on fire since the start of SEC play. He has hits in 30 of 36 games since league play started and has reached base in 40 straight games. His reached-base streak stands as the longest by a Rebel since Tanner Mathis reached in 41 straight in 2011. It's the longest streak active streak in the SEC, and the 10th-longest active streak in the nation.

Kessinger leads the SEC in hits and batting average during SEC play. The junior out of Oxford is slashing .426/.485/.591 in league play with 25 R, 25 RBI and 13 extra-base hits. Across all games, he is third in hits, No. 6 in batting average, runs scored and doubles. Nationally, he ranks 20th in hits, 38th in runs scored, 50th in doubles.

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. 38 in the nation and No. 3 in the SEC in RBI with 55 on the year. Keenan leads Ole Miss and is ninth in the SEC with 11 home runs this year. He is sixth in the SEC in on-base percentage during conference play. He's also tied for fourth in the league with 11 HBPs on the year and is tied for the league lead with 24 walks in SEC play.

OLEEEEEY, OLEY, OLEY, OLEY

Olenek has hits in 35 of 42 games this season and is sixth in the SEC in batting average. Adding 11 doubles already this season, Oley has 52 doubles in his Rebel career, putting him in sole possession of fifth place in Rebel history. He is eight shy of the all-time record of 60, owned by Brad Henderson. He also leads the SEC with 13 HBPs on the year.

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. He's one of the most feared hitters in college baseball, having drawn the 15th-most walks in the country, the second-most in the SEC. Dillard and Tyler Keenan are tied for first in the SEC in walks drawn in conference play.

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 five passed balls in 49 games played and has erased 17 would-be base stealers, the second-most in the SEC. He has also allowed the fewest stolen bases (17) among starting catchers in the SEC.

Johnson was named SEC Player of the Week after slashing .545/.643/.909 in the LSU series with 6 R, 5 RBI, 2B, HR. In Sunday's series-clinching win, Johnson went 4-for-5, with four runs scored and four RBI, posting career-highs in hits and runs scored.

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

Chase Cockrell

Thomas Dillard

Will Ethridge

Brady Feigl

Michael Fitzsimmons

Jordan Fowler

Connor Green

Gunnar Hoglund

Cooper Johnson

Tyler Keenan

Grae Kessinger

James McArthur

Tyler Myers

Doug Nikhazy

Ryan Olenek

Zack Phillips

Ryan Rolison

Houston Roth

Anthony Servideo

Cole Zabowski

The University of Mississippi Athletics