Softball to Host Penguins in Wednesday Midweek Clash

			OLE MISS (12-13) vs. YOUNGSTOWN STATE (8-5) Oxford, Miss. Ole Miss Softball Complex (1,000)
Ole Miss Notes (PDF)

Wednesday, March 11
6 p.m.

Watch • Live Stats

PROMOTIONS
• $1 Hot Dogs
• Rebel Kids Club Night

LEADING OFF
• Ole Miss returns home for a midweek battle with Youngstown State, taking on the Penguins for just the second time in program-history and the first since 2016.

• The midweek tilt kicks off an eight-game home stand for the Rebels at the Ole Miss Softball Complex and continues a run of 15-of-18 games at home. The game sets the stage for a three-game non-conference clash with No. 22 UCF this weekend in Oxford.

• The Rebels are a perfect 7-0 at home this season and have not lost a non-conference game at the Ole Miss Softball Complex during the regular season since 2018.

• Ole Miss is coming off of a three-game road sweep at the hands of No. 23 Missouri this past weekend in Columbia. The Rebels took an early lead in two of the three clashes but were unable to hang on, ultimately stranding 24 runners on base over the three games.

• Junior Jessica Puk continued her good run of form during the series, batting .500 with a .667 on-base percentage, collecting two of the Rebels' three RBIs. Puk is in the midst of a 13-game on-base streak, tied for the longest of her career.

• Puk paces Ole Miss with eight multi-hit games, three more than the next closest player (Mikayla Allee - 5). The Rebels have been victorious in six of the eight games in which Puk tallies multiple hits.

• Sophomore Mikayla Allee also posted a hit in half of her at-bats in Columbia, leading the team with a .356 average and a .513 OBP in 2020.

• Autumn Gillespie hit her fifth home run of the season at Missouri, tying Abbey Latham for the team lead. In more than three full seasons at the college level prior to this season, Gillespie had left the park 11 times.

SCOUTING REPORT
Youngstown State is in its 12th season under head coach Brian Campbell, who took over the Penguin program after eight seasons as head coach at his alma mater, NCAA Division II side Tiffin. Campbell has collected more than 250 wins at YSU, making him the school's all-time wins leader. Campbell was named the Horizon League Coach of the Year in 2012 and guided the Penguins to a second-place league finish in 2016.

With a doubleheader set for Tuesday in Memphis prior to making their way to Oxford, the Penguins are currently 8-5 on the season, splitting their four games at the UofM Softball Tournament with victories over Western Carolina and Indiana State and losses to Belmont and Butler. Youngstown State is in the midst of a streak of 21-straight games on the road to start its season, not debuting at home until its Horizon League opener on March 24.

Junior Nikki Saibene leads the Penguins with a .469 batting average, also drawing a team-high 10 walks for an eye-catching .600 on-base percentage. Saibene has registered four doubles and one homer, driving in nine runs and scoring seven more. Senior Maddi Lusk has recorded a .364 average, pacing YSU with 11 runs while showing off power with four doubles, a triple and a team-best five big flies, also pacing the Penguins with 14 RBIs. Junior Yazmine Romero isn't far behind with a .340 average at the plate, scoring 10 times.

The Penguins primarily utilize two pitchers in the circle, with junior Elle Buffenbarger leading the team with 42.0 innings in eight appearances and six starts. Buffenbarger has completed five of her six starts, tallying a pair of shutouts while posting a record of 4-1 and an ERA of 2.50. Lusk has also seen significant time, posting 32.2 frames in eight appearances and four starts, earning a 3-2 record and a 3.43 ERA.

NO PLACE LIKE HOME
The Ole Miss Softball Complex has been a place of comfort for the Rebels in non-conference clashes in recent years. Ole Miss has won 27-straight non-conference regular season games in a row, having not fallen to a non-SEC team in Oxford during the regular season since a 5-0 defeat to Boston College in 2018. Dating back to last season, when Ole Miss went 13-0 at home in non-conference play, the Rebels have outscored their opponents 149-25 on home soil in non-league action.

COMING UP CLUTCH
Perhaps the biggest factor between victory and defeat for Ole Miss in 2020 has been the ability to come through in clutch situations. Ole Miss is batting .315 with runners in scoring position in wins this season, while managing just a .165 average with runners on in losses. What's more, in victories the Rebels have recorded a .409 average with the bases loaded in games they've won, while hitting just .167 with the bags full in losses.

POWERING UP
It took 11 games for Ole Miss to muscle up and hit its first home run of the season. Since then, the balls have been flying out of the yard. With Jessica Puk's third-inning two-run bomb in the Rebels' first game of the Ole Miss Classic, Ole Miss made it seven-straight games with a home run. It matched the longest streak in program-history, also accomplished in 2012. Since recording the first homer of the year in the victory over Oklahoma State, Ole Miss has left the park in 11-of-15 games, totaling 17 big flies.

RUN FACTORY
One of the hallmarks of Ole Miss softball in recent years has been the ability to manufacture runs without the benefit of a base hit, a fact that continues to apply to the Rebel program in 2020. Of the 112 runs scored by Ole Miss this season, 33 have been generated without a base knock, including 11 on ground balls, six on sacrifice bunts, four on sacrifice flies and two on double steals.

SWITCH FLIPPED
Through the first 30 games of her career, sophomore Mikayla Allee had registered just more hits, coming in at a batting average of .085. Since then, the Rebel shortstop has been on a role, posting a .348 average at the plate. What is almost more impressive is the Corona, California, native's ability to get on base during that time. Through the first 30 games of her freshman season, Allee's OBP was a .297, still respectable considering her meager hits total. Over the last 55 games, however, you can pretty much flip a coin as Allee has reached base 49.7 percent of the time.

ON A ROLL
For Iowa native Jessica Puk, the softball park has been a field of dreams in recent games. Puk is in the midst of a 13-game reached base streak, tied for the longest of her career and the longest at Ole Miss since Kylan Becker's 20-game streak in 2019. During the 13-game streak, Puk is batting .429 with three doubles, three home runs, 12 RBIs, eight runs scored and a .511 OBP. Over the past five games Puk has dialed it up to 11, reaching in two-thirds of her plate appearances with a .583 average and five runs driven in.

GOING OUT WITH A BANG
Entering her senior season, and fifth collegiate season overall, Autumn Gillespie was a .257 career hitter with a .332 on-base percentage and a slugging percentage of .400. During her senior campaign the Rebel back stop has put her best foot forward and emerged as one of the more feared bats in the SEC. Gillespie is batting .349 this season, drawing the fourth-most walks in the league to come in with an OBP of .512, while adding pop to the lineup with a .651 slugging percentage. Just 25 games into the season, Gillespie has registered 32.8% of the runs, 50.0% of the walks and 45.5% of the home runs she had tallied in her first four collegiate seasons combined. The 6-0 tall catcher has also emerged as a threat on the bases. Having stolen just twice in her first three seasons, Gillespie has swiped 18 bags the last two years, successfully stealing on 91% of attempts for her career.

JUNIOR ASCENSION
In the quest to identify a replacement for graduated senior Brittany Finney in the Ole Miss pitching rotation, juniors Anna Borgen and Ava Tillmann have risen to the top. After pitching in just four games in 2019, totaling 8.0 innings, lefty Anna Borgen has emerged as one of the more consistent arms on the Rebel staff. This season, Borgen has appeared in nine games with five starts, posting a team-best 1.27 ERA with a 4-1 record. Through her first two collegiate seasons, Borgen had never thrown more than 5.0 innings in an appearance. In 2020, the Heath, Texas, native has tossed three complete game shutouts, the most in the SEC.

Borgen and fellow junior Ava Tillmann have been particularly effective when manning the rubber within the comfy confines of the Ole Miss Softball Complex. The duo have combined to register a 5-0 record without a single run allowed over their 25.1 innings of work. Opponents have barely been able to touch Tillmann's stuff in Oxford, with the Georgia native posting a .094 opponent batting average in Oxford.

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.

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Players Mentioned

Mikayla Allee

Kylan Becker

Anna Borgen

Brittany Finney

Autumn Gillespie

Abbey Latham

Jessica Puk

Ava Tillmann

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