No. 1 Baseball Hosts Arkansas State in Home Opener

			#1 OLE MISS (3-0, 0-0 SEC) vs. ARKANSAS STATE (0-0, 0-0 Sun Belt) February 24 Oxford, Miss. Oxford-University Stadium/Swayze Field (11,477)
Ole Miss Notes • SEC Notes • Arkansas State Notes

Wednesday, February 24
4 p.m. CT
SEC Network+

PROJECTED STARTERS
Ole Miss: RHP Drew McDaniel
0-0, 0.00 ERA, 1 K, 1 BB
Arkansas State: RHP Jack Jumper
0-3, 8.53 ERA, 15 K, 7 BB

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GAME INFO
Date: Feb. 24
Location: Oxford, Miss.
Venue: Oxford-University Stadium/Swayze Field
Dimensions: LF-330, CF-390, RF-330 (11,477)

Live Stream: SEC Network+
Play by Play: Seth Austin
Analyst: Matt McLaughlin
Radio: Ole Miss Radio Network
Play by Play: David Kellum
Analyst: Brad Henderson

SERIES HISTORY
Series History: Ole Miss leads 86-24
Last Meeting: May 14, 2019 (Jonesboro)
Results: 6-5, Arkansas State
Last in Oxford: Feb. 20, 2019
Results: 15-3, Ole Miss

LEADING OFF
• Ole Miss enters the week at 3-0 after sweeping three games at the State Farm College Baseball Showdown at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas against No. 10 TCU, No. 3 Texas Tech and No. 9 Texas.
• Baseball America, D1Baseball, Perfect Game and NCBWA made Ole Miss the consensus No. 1 team in the nation this week—the first No. 1 ranking in program history.
• The Rebels are on a 19-game win streak, the longest in program history. The streak dates back to Feb. 15, 2020.
• Peyton Chatagnier was named SEC Co-Player of the Week on Tuesday. Ole Miss has now had a player earn a weekly honor for six straight weeks. At least one Rebel was honored every week of last season.
• Chatagnier led the nation with four doubles over the weekend.
• Jacob Gonzalez made the SportsCenter Top 10 for his spectacular defensive play against Texas. The true freshman also hit .364 over the weekend with a triple, a home run, four RBI and three runs scored.
• The Ole Miss bullpen was near-perfect over the weekend. The Rebel relievers allowed just one run over 14 innings of work, good for a collective 0.64 ERA.
• Gunnar Hoglund's 11 Ks vs. Texas Tech were the most in the SEC and sixth-most in the nation this week.
• Ole Miss and Arkansas State will meet for the 111th time. The Rebels hold the all-time series lead, 86-24.

GENERAL GAMEDAY INFORMATION

Ole Miss baseball games will begin the season at 25 percent capacity at Oxford-University Stadium/Swayze Field, in accordance with the State of Mississippi's executive orders.

Gates will open one hour prior to first pitch for midweek games and two hours prior to weekend games, and fans are encouraged to arrive early as lines will be socially distanced. Parking lots will open three hours prior to first pitch.

Per SEC guidelines, signage shall be installed at all gates and ingress/entry points that outline mandates for all guests to wear face coverings, maintain physical distancing and mandate guests do not enter the stadium if they display any COVID-19 symptoms as outlined by the CDC. Hand sanitizer stations will be located throughout the venue.

To accommodate a touchless operation, all tickets and parking passes will be mobile or print at home, while concessions, Rebel Shop and other points of sale will shift to cashless transactions.

Fans are encouraged not to bring bags to allow for quicker entry into the stadium. However, for those that do, the clear bag policy will be enforced for stadium entry.

Full Ole Miss baseball gameday policies for fans, including ticketing info, ticket transfer instructions and COVID-19 policies, can be found at OleMissGameday.com/baseball.

NO. 1

Baseball America, D1Baseball, Perfect Game and NCBWA made Ole Miss the consensus No. 1 team in the nation this week, the first No. 1 ranking in program history. The Rebels entered the season with a high ranking of No. 4 (Baseball America) but claimed the top spot after sweeping No. 10 TCU, No. 3 Texas Tech and No. 9 Texas at the State Farm College Baseball Showdown at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas.

19 AND COUNTING

Ole Miss opened the 2020 season with a defeat at home to No. 1 Louisville, led by eventual first round MLB Draft pick Reid Detmers. The Rebels haven't lost since that night reeling off 19 straight victories, a win streak that will reach its 376th day when they take on Arkansas State. The Rebels entered the season one win shy of the program record at 16 wins and added to that with a sweep of No. 10 TCU, No. 3 Texas Tech and No. 9 Texas in the State Farm College Baseball Showdown. The win streak includes six wins over ranked opponents.

LONE STAR SWEEP

Ole Miss went a perfect 3-0 on opening weekend, securing three top-10 wins along the way in the State Farm College Baseball Showdown. The Rebels opened their season with a 7-3 victory over No. 10 TCU. The Rebels plated four runs in the second inning and never looked back to start the year at 1-0. The following day, Mike Bianco's squad found itself in a dogfight with No. 3 Texas Tech. The Red Raiders took an early 2-0 lead, but the Rebels answered back with five runs in the third, which was just enough in a 5-4 victory. Ole Miss completed the sweep with an emphatic 8-1 win over Texas on Monday. The Rebels' final game in Arlington was tight in the early going, but they poured on four runs in the sixth inning and punctuated the weekend with three runs in the ninth.

REBS VS. RED WOLVES

Ole Miss and Arkansas State have met 110 times with the Rebels holding an 86-24 advantage in the all-time series. Arkansas State won the last meeting between the teams, 6-5, in Jonesboro on May 14, 2019. Ole Miss won the last meeting in Oxford, a 15-3 victory on Feb. 20, 2019. The two teams were scheduled to meet twice last season before COVID-19 cut the campaign short. They'll meet once more this season on May 4 in Oxford.

WEST AND HIGHLY FAVORED

Ole Miss was picked to win the SEC Western Division by the conference coaches, garnering seven of the division's 14 first-place votes. This marked the first time since 2008 that the Rebels were picked to win the SEC West. Ole Miss was projected to finish sixth in the division last season.

GOLDEN ARMS

Doug Nikhazy and Gunnar Hoglund are expected to form one of college baseball's best one-two punches at the top of the rotation. Both are Preseason All-Americans and both were named to the Golden Spikes Award Watch List. They are also one of just three duos in the nation to represent the same team in the top 25 of the D1Baseball starting pitcher power rankings.

RETURN FIRE

Gunnar Hoglund had one of the best seasons in the Southeastern Conference last season, and he returns as one of the top pitchers in the conference on paper. Among returning SEC pitchers, Hoglund ranks first in strikeouts and strikeout-to-walk ratio, second in walks per nine innings, third in strikeouts per nine innings and fourth in ERA.

THE STAFF IS BACK

Ole Miss returns all but 6.2 of its innings pitched last season. The Rebels return essentially their entire pitching staff outside of Benji Gilbert, who posted a 9.45 ERA in 6.2 innings last season.

NEW DEALERS

Brandon Johnson, Josh Mallitz and Luke Baker each made their Rebel debuts on the mound over the weekend. Johnson showed off his mid-90s velocity over 2.0 innings of scoreless work with just one hit allowed, striking out three along the way. Mallitz closed out the Rebels' Monday night victory over Texas, tossing one flawless inning with two strikeouts. Baker was brought into a tough situation in the ninth inning against Texas Tech and yielded a base hit to the Red Raiders' three-hole hitter.

THE 'PEN IS MIGHTIER

The Ole Miss bullpen was near-perfect over the weekend. The Rebel relievers allowed just one run over 14 innings of work, good for a collective 0.64 ERA.

HEAT SHEET

Derek Diamond and Gunnar Hoglund both made D1Baseball's Heat Sheet after hitting 97 and 96 MPH on the radar gun, respectively. Both Rebel starters saw significant upticks in velocity from 2020 to 2021.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Peyton Chatagnier returns as the Rebels' starting second baseman after hitting .311 with four doubles and four home runs last year. He also scored the ninth-most runs in the nation as a freshman and enters the season as the No. 5 second baseman in the D1Baseball positional power rankings. The sophomore out of Cypress, Texas, hit .455 with a nation-leading four doubles on opening weekend to earn SEC Co-Player of the Week honors.

STAR AT SHORT

Jacob Gonzalez showed on opening weekend that the Rebels have found the next in a long line of star shortstops. In his debut weekend, the freshman out of Glendora, California, hit .364 with a triple, a home run, three runs scored and four RBI. He was also phenomenal in the field, including a spectacular play up the middle against Texas that landed at No. 5 in the SportsCenter Top 10 plays.

SWAYZE SHOWER SEASON

Ole Miss led all of college baseball with 37 home runs a year ago and returns all but 12 of those home runs on the 2021 roster.

NEW LEFT SIDE

While much of the Rebel roster returns, Ole Miss will have to replace the left side of its infield as third baseman Tyler Keenan and shortstop Anthony Servideo were both taken in the 2020 MLB Draft. Keenan hit .403 last year with five doubles, seven home runs and 33 RBI—the second most in the nation last year—and went to the Seattle Mariners in the fourth round. Servideo hit .390 and ranked second nationally with 24 runs scored and hit five home runs of his own before being selected in the third round by the Baltimore Orioles. Senior captain Tim Elko is likely to replace Keenan at third, while freshman Jacob Gonzalez will get the nod at shortstop.

TIM'S TIME

Tim Elko was voted captain by his teammates for the second straight season. He was also selected to the NCBWA Preseason All-American teams, as well as to the Preseason All-SEC Second Team by the league coaches. Coming off a strong shortened 2020 season where he hit .354 with four doubles and three home runs, Elko shined over the summer in the Northwoods League, earning Rawlings Big Stick Award honors as the best hitting first baseman in the league, in addition to an All-Star nod. Baseball America tabbed Elko as a breakout candidate for 2021.

CATCHER U
Just 17 games into his collegiate career, Hayden Dunhurst is already proving to be every bit the star the Rebels hoped he would be behind the dish. Dunhurst hit just under .270 as a freshman with five home runs and allowed the second-fewest stolen bases in the SEC last season. Dunhurst is No. 8 in the D1Baseball catcher rankings and was selected to the Preseason All-SEC Second Team.

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Players Mentioned

Luke Baker

Peyton Chatagnier

Derek Diamond

Hayden Dunhurst

Tim Elko

Benji Gilbert

Jacob Gonzalez

Gunnar Hoglund

Brandon Johnson

Tyler Keenan

Josh Mallitz

Drew McDaniel

Doug Nikhazy

Anthony Servideo

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