The University of Mississippi Athletics
Friday, March 1
Oxford, Miss.
6:30 PM
Ole Miss
vs
Iowa
Baseball Welcomes Iowa to Swayze Field for Weekend Series
2/29/2024 | Baseball
| Friday, March 1 6:30 p.m. CT  |
Saturday, March 2 1:30 p.m. CT |
Sunday, March 3 Noon CT |
| PROJECTED STARTERS Ole Miss: LHP Gunnar Dennis 2-0, 3.12 ERA, 9 K, 5 BB Iowa: RHP Brody Brecht 0-0, 1.74 ERA, 22 K, 10 BB |
PROJECTED STARTERS Ole Miss: RHP JT Quinn 0-1, 8.10 ERA, 12 K, 8 BB Iowa: RHP Marcus Morgan 1-0, 4.15 ERA, 13 K, 7 BB |
PROJECTED STARTERS Ole Miss: RHP Grayson Saunier 1-1, 5.87 ERA, 10 K, 5 BB Iowa: LHP Cade Obermueller 0-0, 0.00 ERA, 13 K, 4 BB |
OXFORD, Miss. – Ole Miss Baseball (6-4) hosts the Iowa Hawkeyes (4-4) for a three-game set to open the month of March at Swayze Field.
LEADING OFF
- Ole Miss won its first series of the season last weekend, taking two out of three games from High Point.
- The Rebels picked up wins over both Little Rock and Missouri State earlier this week, scoring 12 runs in each victory.
- Ole Miss has scored 61 runs over their last four games, the most in a four-game span since 2008.
- The Rebels hit 10 home runs in last weekend's three-game series against High Point, marking just the second time they have done that in the Mike Bianco Era.
- The Rebels set a new program record for walks in a single game with 19 free passes in Sunday's win over the Panthers.
- They also tied a program record with 25 RBI while scoring the most runs in a game since 2019.
- Ole Miss scored 11 times in the first inning of Sunday's victory, its biggest inning since 2018 vs. LSU.
- The Rebels' huge first inning also included a home run cycle capped off by Jackson Ross' three-run shot.
- Ross had a huge week at the plate last week hitting .727 with 11 RBI, 8 runs scored, and four home runs. He has hit four home runs in his last three games.
- Iowa and Ole Miss meet this weekend for the first time since 1997.
- Ole Miss will host Memphis next Tuesday for their lone midweek of the week.
SCOUTING REPORT
Head coach Rick Heller is in his 11th season as the University of Iowa's head baseball coach. In 2023, Iowa went 44-16 (15-8 Big Ten). The Hawkeyes finished third in the regular season and advanced to the Big Ten Tournament for the eighth time under Heller, losing to Maryland in the championship game. Iowa competed in the Terra Haute Regional eventually losing to the host Sycamores in the regional final.
From Iowa's success in 2023, the Hawkeyes were a projected top-25 team in the preseason. They began the 2024 season at No. 20 and rose two spots to No. 18 before falling out of the rankings due to losses at the Jacksonville College Baseball Classic to Auburn, Virginia and
Wichita State. On Tuesday, Iowa had a 14-6 win over Northern Illinois moving their record to 4-4 on the season.
Junior, right-handed pitcher, Brody Brecht, is a name to watch out for. Brecht has a 1.74 ERA through 10 innings pitched this season and has 22 tallied strikeouts. Last season, Brecht appeared in 17 games, including 16 starts on the mound. He held a 5-2 record with a 3.74 ERA and struck out 109 batters in 77 innings.
The Rebels welcome the Hawkeyes to Oxford this weekend for a three-game series. Ole Miss is 3-3 against Iowa. The first meeting took place in 1926, with the Hawkeyes winning, 6-5. The most recent meeting was March 1, 1997 with Ole Miss walking away with the 11-6 win.
FIVE BY FIVE
The Rebel offense has exploded over its last five games, putting up largely different numbers from their first five games of the season. Ole Miss' run production has nearly quadrupled, scoring 61 runs over their last four games, the most over a four-game span since 2008.
The Rebels' have also seen a large uptick in home runs and hits in general, hitting 14 long balls in five games. They have also stolen nine bases in the last two games after stealing just two in their previous eight.
| First Five | Last Five | Total | |
| Runs | 17 | 64 | 81 |
| Hits | 29 | 54 | 83 |
| RBI | 17 | 60 | 77 |
| Home Runs | 4 | 14 | 18 |
ARM BARN
Over their last six games, the Rebel bullpen has posted a 2.17 ERA, allowing just seven earned runs over 29 innings of work. Seven different relief pitchers have yet to allow an earned run, led by Mason Nichols and Josh Mallitz.
Nichols has worked 6.1 total innings out of the pen, striking out nine batters and picking up the win in the first game of the season. Mallitz has worked 5.1 innings since returning to the mound, also striking out nine and allowing just two hits. Connor Spencer has struck out five of the seven batters he has faced in two appearances.
WALK THIS WAY
The Rebels have proven to put up tough at-bats and force opposing pitchers to fall as they currently rank fifth in the nation in walks. So far this season, the Rebels have been put on base 76 times, most notably in game three versus High Point where Ole Miss set a new program record for walks in a single game with 19 free passes in Sunday's blowout win. The previous record was 16 set on February 26, 1985 against Union.
In total against High Point, the Rebels reached base 20 times via the walk or hit by pitch while striking out just two times in the Sunday game. They worked 35 total walks in the series, 31 in the final two games.
BOMB SQUAD
The Rebels hit 10 home runs in last weekend's series against High Point, doing something that has only been done once before in the Mike Bianco Era. The last time an Ole Miss team hit 10 or more home runs in a three-game series was in 2020 against Princeton just before the season was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Prior to 2020, the feat had not been accomplished since 1998.
POWER CYCLE
In Sunday's win over High Point, the Rebels accomplished the incredibly rare feat of completing the home run cycle in just the first inning. Ethan Groff led off the inning with a solo home run followed by a grand slam by Will Furniss. With one out in the inning, Reagan Burford hit a two-RBI home run and then Jackson Ross completed the cycle with a two-out, three-RBI shot five batters later.
QUE THE SHOWERS
Swayze Showers are back and better than ever as the Rebels' bats have been on fire, blasting 18 home runs this season, 15 of them at home. Ole Miss' 18 bombs puts them tied for 10th in the nation and third in the SEC.
Leading the pack is first baseman Jackson Ross who is tied for ninth in the nation in home runs with five so far this season. Out of Ross' 14 RBI, 11 of have come off his five dingers. Ross is currently averaging .438 at the plate, .969 slugging and a 1.560 OPS.
RUNNING AWAY WITH IT
Ole Miss scored 25 runs against High Point on Sunday, falling just three runs short of the single-game record set in 1989. Their 25 runs were the most scored in one game since March 20, 2019 against Arkansas-Pine Bluff (W, 25-0). It was just the sixth time in the last six seasons that the Rebels have broken the 20-run mark in a game.
They scored 11 runs in just the first inning of play, the most in a single inning since April 26, 2018 against LSU. In total, 15 hitters came to the plate, seven had hits in the inning, five drew walks, and five drove in runs.
SGT. ROSS
Jackson Ross was a force at the plate for Ole Miss in week two, hitting .727 (8-for-11) with four home runs, 11 RBI, and eight runs scored over four games. He reached base 14 times in 17 plate appearances and accounted for 20 total bases during the week. The fifth-year senior had at least one hit in each game and put together three multi-hit games, including a 3-for-4 performance on Friday night. He hit four home runs in the Rebels' three-game series against High Point, including just his second career multi-home run game on Saturday. In total, the Florida native torched the Panthers for seven hits, 10 RBI, and eight runs scored in Ole Miss' first series win of the season.
WELCOME TO THE SHOW
Eight freshmen made their collegiate debut over the Rebels' opening weekend in Hawaii. Trenton Lyons, Drew Markle and Campbell Smithwick all tallied their first career hits at the plate. Seth Farni and Brayden Randle also saw action as pinch hitters for Ole Miss. On the mound, Patrick Galle, Wes Mendes and Austin Simmons combined for 4.1 innings without surrendering a hit. Mendes struck out four batters in 3.0 innings of work, picking up the save in Saturday's victory over the Rainbow Warriors. Simmons, a standout dual-sport athlete with the Ole Miss football team, pitched a perfect inning, striking out two of the three batters he faced.
Keep up with all the latest news and information on the Rebels by following Ole Miss baseball on X 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 X at @CoachMikeBianco.
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