The University of Mississippi Athletics
Saturday, March 25
Oxford, Miss.
1:30 PM
Ole Miss
vs
Florida
No. 13 Ole Miss Baseball Opens Home SEC Slate Against No. 3 Florida
3/23/2023 | Baseball
Rebels and Gators Meet In Oxford for the First Time Since 2019
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#13 OLE MISS (15-6, 0-3 SEC) vs. #3 FLORIDA (19-4, 2-1 SEC) March 24-26, 2023 Oxford, Miss. Swayze Field (11,477) |
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| Ole Miss Notes • Florida Notes • SEC Notes | ||||||||
| Friday, March 24 6:30 p.m. CT  |
Saturday, March 25 1:30 p.m. CT  |
Sunday, March 26 1:30 p.m. CT |
| PROJECTED STARTERS Ole Miss: RHP Jack Dougherty 2-2, 6.14 ERA, 25 K, 6 BB Florida: RHP Brandon Sproat 4-0, 2.73 ERA, 43 K, 14 BB |
PROJECTED STARTERS Ole Miss: RHP Grayson Saunier 1-1, 6.30 ERA, 26 K, 15 BB Florida: RHP Hurston Waldrep 3-1, 4.00 ERA, 47 K, 13 BB |
PROJECTED STARTERS Ole Miss: LHP Xavier Rivas 4-1, 5.40 ERA, 28 K, 13 BB Florida: LHP Jac Caglianone 3-0, 3.20 ERA, 32 K, 10 BB |
| Watch • Listen • Live Stats | Watch • Listen • Live Stats | Watch • Listen • Live Stats |
LEADING OFF
- Ole Miss opens their home SEC schedule this weekend, hosting No. 3 Florida for a three-game series
- The Rebels and the Gators have not played each other since April 1-3, 2021 in Gainsville. Ole Miss won just one game of that three-game set
- Florida has not come to Oxford since April 5-6, 2019 when the Rebels swept all three games of that series
- The Rebels have won nine of the last 12 games played between the two teams in Oxford dating back to 2010
- Calvin Harris hit .467 (7-for-15) with four RBI over the four games last week. He tied his career-high with four hits in Thursday's game against Vanderbilt.
- Junior Ethan Lege has been the toughest hitter to strikeout in the SEC this season, striking out just six times in 69 at-bats. He is averaging one strikeout every 11.5 at-bats.
- Redshirt freshman Brayden Jones and sophomore Mason Nichols have both posted sub-2.00 ERAs out of the bullpen this season. They both have picked up two saves while allowing just two earned runs in 10+ innings of work.
- Kemp Alderman is ranked eighth in the SEC in RBI with 30 RBI in 21 games. He is averaging 1.43 RBI per game
- Alderman is also ranked sixth in the SEC in home runs with nine. Florida's Jac Caglianone is the national leader with 13 on the season
- Ethan Groff is ranked sixth in the SEC in stolen bases with 10. He has only been caught stealing once in 11 tries.
- Ole Miss is ranked second in the SEC and 11th in the NCAA in fielding percentage (.982)
- The Rebels opened this week as the No. 13-ranked team in the country.
SECOND TO ONE
With two more victories, head coach Mike Bianco will pass the legendary Skip Bertman for second-most wins by an SEC head coach. Bianco currently has 869 wins as the head coach of the Rebels, trailing just behind Bertman's 870 wins as the head coach of LSU from 1984-2001. Bianco played for Bertman at LSU from 1988-89 and coached on his staff from 1993-97.
POLLING ALONG
Ole Miss comes into this week as the No. 13-ranked team in the country, earning the ranking from D1Baseball, the USA Today Coaches' Poll, and the NCBWA. They also were ranked No. 14 by Perfect Game, No. 15 by Baseball America, and No. 23 by Collegiate Baseball News.
EVERYONE IN
For the first time this season, every Rebel in the starting lineup scored at least one run in Tuesday's 11-1 win over UAPB. This was the first time it had happened since June 6, 2022 against Arizona. Ole Miss had just four games last season in which every starter scored at least once.
OUT OF THE GATE
Ole Miss has scored 55 of their 175 total runs in the first two innings of games, 31.4 percent of their total run production. They are outscoring opponents 55-13 in the first two innings of play. 62 percent of their runs have been scored in the first five innings of games.
BASH BROS
During the first two games of Ole Miss' series against Purdue, Kemp Alderman and TJ McCants became the first pair of teammates to combine for six home runs in two-consecutive games since 1998. McCants hit two in Friday's matchup and added one more Saturday while Alderman hit two on Saturday after hitting one the night before. Alderman now leads the team with eight long balls while McCants is in second with six.
The last pair to accomplish the feat were brothers Jason and Josh Huisman (3/15/1998 at Kentucky and 3/17/1998 at NE Louisiana). Jason Huisman hit two home runs in each game while Josh Huisman added one in each.
WHO YA GONNA CALL?
With the game tied 6-6 in the 10th inning, Kemp Alderman hit a solo walk-off home run to give the Rebels the win in Saturday's contest with Purdue. Alderman's blast was the team's first true walk-off (9+ innings) of the season and the first since he hit a walk-off home run on April 24, 2021 against LSU.
HOMERS ARE CONTAGIOUS
From March 7 to March 11 the Rebels hit three or more home runs in three-consecutive games for the first time since the 2019 Oxford Regional. They hit three in a midweek win over Southern Miss, three in a series opening win over Purdue, and then four in their extra-inning win in game two against the Boilermakers. TJ McCants hit four of the 10 home runs, Kemp Alderman hit three, Peyton Chatagnier hit two, and Anthony Calarco hit one.
MVP, MVP, MVP
Ethan Groff was named MVP of the Cambria College Classic on March 3-5, hitting .500 (7-for-14) with eight RBI, five runs scored, and two stolen bases in Minneapolis. He drove in four runs against No. 18 Maryland and four more against Nebraska. The senior outfielder had at least two hits and scored at least one run in all three games of the tournament.
SAUN-K
Grayson Saunier struck out 11 batters in his third collegiate start against Minnesota on March 4. It was the most by an Ole Miss starter since Dylan DeLucia struck out 12 in the opening game of the Coral Gables Regional against Arizona last season.
SUNDAY DRIVE
Calvin Harris had a career day on February 26 against No. 13 Maryland, posting a career-high eight RBI in what was the first four-hit game and multi-home run game in his time as a Rebel. Harris became the first Rebel to drive in eight runs since Thomas Dillard in 2019 and is one of only three players to drive in eight runs in a game since at least 1997 (Sikes Orvis, 2015).
NUMBER OF THE BEAST
Ole Miss hit six home runs on February 26 in a victory over Maryland, becoming one of just three teams in the Mike Bianco era to accomplish that feat in a single game. The Rebels did it last season against Alabama and in 2019 against UAPB. Before 2019, the Rebels had not put together a six-home run game since March 2, 1999.
COMING HOME
Jacob Gonzalez has been climbing the Ole Miss all-time runs scored leaderboard this season, currently ranked ninth all-time with 163 runs scored in his career. Gonzalez is only 35 runs off of the top spot with well over half of the season still left to play. Former player and current Ole Miss Sports Network color analyst Brad Henderson owns the record, scoring 198 runs over the course of his 203 career games.
Gonzalez owns the second and fifth-highest records for runs scored in a single season with 73 in 2021 and 67 in 2022.
OFF AND RUNNING
The Rebel offense came out hot on Opening Weekend, scoring 35 total runs over their first three games. That mark was the highest for an Opening Weekend series since 2008 when they scored 45 runs against Minnesota.
WELCOME TO THE SHOW
11 Rebel freshmen have made their debut in 2023: Will Furniss, Brayden Jones, Cole Ketchum, Mason Morris, Will Plattner, JT Quinn, Grayson Saunier, Tim Simay, Sam Tookoian, Judd Utermark, and Jordan Vera.
Saunier made his collegiate debut on Opening Weekend getting the start for game two against Delaware. He allowed just one hit over four innings while striking out five batters. Quinn made his first career start against Arkansas State while Furniss and Utermark each hit a home run in their first career at-bats. Jones, Ketchum, and Tookoian each posted scoreless outings in their debuts out of the bullpen.
HOME SWEET HOME
Ole Miss has now won its home opener in 21 of 23 seasons during the Mike Bianco era and has won the opening home series of the season in 20 of Bianco's 23 campaigns. The Rebels have lost a home opening series just once, losing two-of-three to UCF in 2021.
SEC PRESEASON COACHES POLL
West (First Place Votes)
1. LSU (12)
2. Texas A&M (1)
3. Arkansas
4. Ole Miss (1)
5. Alabama
6. Auburn
7. Mississippi State
East (First Place Votes)
1. Tennessee (12)
2. Florida (2)
3. Vanderbilt
4. South Carolina
5. Georgia
6. Kentucky
7. Missouri
PACK 'EM IN
2023's home opener against Delaware saw 11,242 fans pack the stands at Swayze Field, the second-highest Opening Day attendance number in program history. It was also the 18th highest single-game attendance number in the history of Swayze Field.
GOING, GOING, GONZO
Junior Jacob Gonzalez came into the 2023 season as one of the most decorated athletes during the preseason. Gonzalez was named a Preseason All-American by five different major publications (Baseball America, Collegiate Baseball, D1Baseball, NCBWA, and Perfect Game) while also being the only Rebel represented on the Preseason All-SEC list.
Gonzalez also became the first Rebel since 2008 to be named to the Golden Spikes Award Preseason Watch List twice in his career, earning the honor in both 2022 and 2023. D1Baseball named him the No. 3 MLB prospect in all of college baseball while MLB Pipeline ranked him No. 5 in their same list.
MISSISSIPPI MADE
Of the 39 players on Ole Miss' roster in 2023, 12 of them hail from the state of Mississippi. The next closest state if Florida with five followed by Tennessee and California with three. In all, 17 states are represented on the Rebels' roster.
TOUGH CROWD
Ole Miss will be playing against 10 opponents this season who participated in the 2022 NCAA Baseball Tournament. Just three of those opponents are of the non-conference variety, with seven of their 10 conference opponents having made it to the big dance last year. Ole Miss was directly responsible for eliminating two of those opponents (Southern Miss and Arkansas) from postseason play in 2022.
REBELS ON THE BIG STAGE
The 2022 National Champions will appear on national television nine times throughout the 2023 season. Ole Miss will appear on SEC Network six times, ESPNU twice, and ESPN2 once during their 2023 campaign. Their national television debut will also be their first SEC matchup of the year as they take on Vanderbilt at 6:00 p.m. in Nashville on ESPNU. The Rebels will be on ESPN2 on April 29 when they host LSU for game two of a three-game set.
National TV Games
March 16 at Vanderbilt (6:00 p.m. CT) – ESPNU
March 18 at Vanderbilt (11:00 a.m. CT) – SEC Network
April 1 at Texas A&M (7:00 p.m. CT) – SEC Network
April 8 vs. Arkansas (2:00 p.m. CT) – SEC Network
April 15 at Mississippi State (3:00 p.m. CT) – SEC Network
April 22 vs. LSU (2:00 p.m. CT) – ESPN2
May 4 at Missouri (6:00 p.m. CT) – SEC Network
May 11 vs. Auburn (7:00 p.m. CT) – ESPNU
May 13 vs. Auburn (2:00 p.m. CT) – SEC Network
ON DRAFT
The Rebels had seven players selected in last year's 2022 MLB Draft, their most in a draft since 2019. Derek Diamond, Hayden Dunhurst, and Dylan DeLucia were all selected in the sixth round of the draft. Diamond was picked by the Pittsburgh Pirates, Dunhurst was picked by the Kansas City Royals, and DeLucia was picked by the Cleveland Guardians.
Brandon Johnson was selected in the ninth round by the Kansas City Royals, Tim Elko was selected in the 10th round by the Chicago White Sox, Kevin Graham was selected in the 14th round by the Arizona Diamondbacks, and Justin Bench was taken in the 17th round by the San Francisco Giants.
Keep up with all the latest news and information on the Rebels by following Ole Miss baseball on Twitter at @OleMissBSB, on Facebook at Facebook.com/OleMissBaseball, on Instagram at Instagram.com/officialolemissbsb and on TikTok at @olemissbsb. Also, follow head coach Mike Bianco on Twitter at @CoachMikeBianco.
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