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Three Questions That Will Shape Ole Miss’ Series Opener at Arkansas

Published

4 months ago

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Dom Decker

No. 17 Ole Miss is headed north to Fayetteville, Ark. where No. 22 Arkansas awaits.

The three‑game series starts Friday night and marks the beginning of the home stretch for the college baseball regular season. Only three weekends remain before the SEC Tournament, and with 10 teams packed within three games of each other, there’s still plenty left to sort out.

There’s also the looming NCAA Tournament and the question of who will host a regional. The magic number for Ole Miss has always hovered around 15‑16 SEC wins. With nine league games left, getting there is still possible, but it won’t be simple.

Arkansas might be the most beatable of the Rebels’ final three opponents, which sounds strange but reflects the kind of season the Razorbacks are having. This is a down year by their standards. Two or three wins would go a long way for Ole Miss, and the first chance comes tonight.

Here are three questions that’ll shape the outcome of Friday’s series opener at Baum‑Walker Stadium.

Will the offense show up?

This Ole Miss offense is frustrating for fans. The Rebels strike out a lot. They swing more for home runs than anything, but also lead the SEC in walks drawn (262).

When the bats are making contact, it’s fun to watch. April was a great month for the Rebels’ offense, batting .268 and hitting 28 home runs. But when they’re not, like Tuesday night against No. 10 Mississippi State, it can be hard to watch at times.

And it’s not just the lack of hits. It’s the missed opportunities, like striking out twice to end two innings with the bases loaded.

The strikeouts we know are going to happen. What we don’t know is if the home runs will happen.

How will Elliott respond after rough start?

It happens almost every time the Rebels’ ace takes to the mound. Elliott gives up some base hits and home runs or hits a few batters with pitches that puts him in a jam.

Usually, once something bad happens, Elliott starts pitching like an ace, striking out batters left and right while not giving up any free bases. That’s what’s always happened except for last weekend against Georgia.

The Bulldogs followed the normal script, scoring two runs on a left field single and then Elliott shut them down for two innings. It looked like the normal script we’ve seen all season until the fourth inning and the Bulldogs ran Elliott out of the game.

It was the shortest outing all season for Elliott. He lasted 3.2 innings and gave up eight runs on nine hits, two hit-by-pitches and a season-low two strikeouts.

That was exactly what Georgia wanted to do. Get Elliott out of the game and into a deep, talented Ole Miss bullpen. It ended up not working because of the bullpen and a late Ole Miss rally.

So, how will Elliott respond Friday night if Arkansas follows the normal script and makes some noise early? Will he pitch like an ace? Or will a repeat of last weekend happen?

Will Hayden Federico and/or Austin Fawley play?

Neither Federico nor Fawley started Tuesday’s Governor’s Cup game in Pearl. Federico came in late as a pinch hitter, but didn’t produce anything from it.

Both had suffered various injuries in last weekend’s series against Georgia, but neither are listed in the Student-Athlete Availability Report for Friday’s series opener against Arkansas.

Taking that at face value, it’s a 100 percent chance they’ll play. But we know they’re banged up at least which would make one think they’d be on the report.

In baseball, though, available to play could mean available to be a pinch-hitter. So, basically, don’t expect the game day report to be much more helpful.

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Baseball

Hunter Elliott Joins Elite Ole Miss Company in Win Over Texas A&M

Published

4 months ago

on

May 9, 2026

By

Ole Miss first baseman Will Furniss celebrates after his RBI double in the seventh inning Friday against Texas A&M. | Ole Miss Athletics

Ole Miss didn’t play a perfect game Friday night, but it played the kind that matters in May.

The Rebels beat No. 9 Texas A&M 5-3 in the series opener at Swayze Field, leaned on their ace when they needed him most, and walked off the field with a win that keeps the postseason picture moving in the right direction.

And Hunter Elliott gave them a little history to go with it.

Elliott looked like the version of himself Ole Miss fans have grown accustomed to seeing. Six innings, one earned run, 11 strikeouts, and the kind of command that makes even a top‑10 offense look uncomfortable.

His seventh strikeout of the night pushed him to 300 for his career, making him only the third Rebel to ever reach that mark. Drew Pomeranz and Lance Lynn are the company he joined. Not bad.

He finished with 304 by the time he handed the ball off, and the Rebels needed every bit of it.

Three errors made the night messier than it had to be, but Elliott, Hudson Calhoun and Walker Hooks kept Texas A&M from turning those mistakes into something bigger.

The offense did its part early. A run in the first, another in the second, another in the fourth. Nothing flashy, just steady pressure.

Will Furniss drove in two, including a seventh‑inning double that pushed the lead back to two runs. Tristan Bissetta added an RBI single right after. Dom Decker, Austin Fawley and Judd Utermark all chipped in with two hits.

Texas A&M made it interesting in the fifth and again in the eighth, but Hooks closed the door with two innings of work and a little help from Furniss, who snagged a sharp liner at first to end it.

So Ole Miss takes the opener, and now Saturday turns into a double‑header. That’s not ideal, but it does give the Rebels two chances to trim their magic number.

They’re trying to play their way into hosting position, and every win from here on out matters a little more than the last.

Friday night was a good start.

Now they get two cracks at making it a great weekend.

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How to Watch Ole Miss Baseball’s Crucial SEC Opener Against Texas A&M

Published

4 months ago

on

May 8, 2026

By

Ole Miss' Collin Reuter crosses home plate in a SEC game against Kentucky. | Dylan Cohron, HottyToddy.com Images

The end of the regular season is fast approaching and the importance and intensity of each game is only going to grow larger and larger.

With that growth, pressure will grow too and that’s what makes this weekend in Oxford important.

No. 20 Ole Miss is on the bubble of hosting a NCAA Regional and needs more than one or two wins to get on the right side of that bubble. A win or two against No. 9 Texas A&M would make the final weekend of the season a lot less stressful.

The Rebels get their first chance Friday night at Swayze Field. Here’s everything to know about the series-opening game.

The Opponent: Texas A&M

Texas A&M head coach Michael Earley is only in his second season, but he’s already stacked back‑to‑back 30‑win years and has this group sitting at 36-10 heading into the weekend. The Aggies are second in the SEC at 15-8 and have taken five of their last six league series, including sweeps of LSU, Texas and Missouri.

The formula has been pretty simple. They walk a lot, they hit a lot of home runs and they score in bunches. A&M ranks 11th nationally in walks and third in homers, which adds up to 422 runs on the year, good for 9.2 per game. The pitching and defense hold up their end too. The Aggies own the seventh‑best strikeout‑to‑walk ratio in the country at 3.23 and the third‑best fielding percentage in the SEC.

Junior outfielder Caden Sorrell leads the power surge with 21 home runs, second in the league and top 10 nationally. He’s one of five Aggies hitting over .300. Gavin Grahovac tops the lineup at .362 and brings plenty of pop with 17 homers, 13 doubles and three triples. Jake Duer, Nico Partida and Bear Harrison are also above .300, with Partida and Harrison both in double‑digit homers.

On the mound, Ethan Darden and Aiden Sims are lined up for Friday and Saturday. Darden has been a bullpen mainstay with a 2.88 ERA and a 4-0 record in 25 innings, and this would be his first start as an Aggie. Sims has made 12 starts and sits at 8-1, leading the team in both strikeouts with 68 and innings pitched with 65.

Starting Pitchers

LHP Ethan Darden vs. LHP Hunter Elliott

  • Darden: 4-0, 2.88 ERA, 25 IP, 21 H, 9 R, 8 ER, 10 BB, 19 SO, .231 Opp. BA
  • Elliott: 4-2, 5.49 ERA, 1.49 WHIP, 59 IP, 57 H, 37 R, 36 ER, 31 BB, 77 SO, .256 Opp. BA

Weather Forecast

The Rebels and Aggies should have favorable weather conditions Friday night at Swayze Field. The National Weather Service forecast calls for clear skies, mostly sunny with temperatures in the mid 70s. There’ll be a slight south wind moving at five miles an hour.

How to Watch: No. 9 Texas A&M at No. 20 Ole Miss

  • Who: No. 9 Texas A&M Aggies (36-10, 15-8 SEC) at No. 20 Ole Miss Rebels (32-17, 12-12 SEC)
  • When: 6:30 p.m., Friday
  • Where: Swayze Field, Oxford, Miss.
  • TV: SECN+
  • Radio: Live Radio
  • Stats: Live Stats
  • Series History: Ole Miss leads the all-time series 21-20
  • Last Meeting: Texas A&M 6, Ole Miss 0 (May 12, 2024)
  • Last time out, Rebels: lost to No. 22 Arkansas, 5-4
  • Last time out, Aggies: def. Prairie View A&M, 16-7

Student-Athlete Availability Report

Texas A&M

Out

  • IF/P #2 Nico Partida
  • P #12 Josh Stewart
  • P #28 Caden McCoy

Ole Miss

Out

  • P #17 Marko Sipila
  • P #29 Grayson Gibson
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Baseball

Texas A&M Makes Friday Night Rotation Change Ahead of Ole Miss Series

Published

4 months ago

on

May 8, 2026

By

Ole Miss Rebels pitcher Cade Townsend delivering a pitch against Nevada

No. 20 Ole Miss faces an important weekend series starting Friday night.

The Rebels’ final week of the regular season will be a lot less stressful if they can win a pair of games against No. 9 Texas A&M. At a minimum, they have to avoid a sweep.

Ole Miss needs four more SEC wins to feel confident about hosting a NCAA Regional when the NCAA Tournament starts in three weeks. But that’s a lot easier said than done and the work will begin soon enough.

How successful this home series finale for Ole Miss is will depend on the bats launching bombs and the pitching staff throwing its best stuff.

The second half of that recipe begins with the starting pitchers for the weekend. And like we predicted earlier in the week, there’s no surprise who Ole Miss is starting.

Hunter Elliott gets the ball first on Friday, followed by Cade Townsend and Taylor Rabe. That’s the rotation the Rebels have used for almost a month now.

Texas A&M, though, did have a surprise in its starting rotation.

The Aggies are giving Ethan Darden his first start of the season in Friday’s series opener and everybody’s favorite pitcher, TBA, is slated for Sunday. The only part of the rotation unchanged is Aiden Sims starts Saturday’s game.

Darden, a Clemson transfer, started nine games for the Tigers last season and went 4-2 with a 6.08 ERA. Moving to the bullpen this year has suited him. He’s 4-0 with a 2.88 ERA across 25 innings and has been one of the steadier arms on the staff.

Shae Sdao had been the Friday starter all season, but the numbers haven’t backed up the role. Among SEC pitchers with at least one inning per team game, he ranks last in ERA during league play at 9.74, last in WHIP at 2.16 and last in hits allowed with 57. He’s 0-4 in SEC games, and the struggles finally forced a change.

This could be a good or bad thing for Ole Miss.

If the Rebels’ bats aren’t active, it won’t matter who’s throwing the pitches. But if they are and Darden is more like an opener, Ole Miss could force the Aggies to deplete some of their bullpen.

We’ll find out in a few hours if that’s going to happen or not.

Ole Miss Starting Pitchers

Hunter Elliott, LHP

  • Season stats: 4-2, 5.49 ERA, 1.49 WHIP, 59 IP, 57 H, 37 R, 36 ER, 31 BB, 77 SO, .256 Opp. BA

Cade Townsend, RHP

  • Season stats: 5-1, 2.42 ERA, .96 WHIP, 52 IP, 37 H, 17 R, 14 ER, 13 BB, 73 SO, .193 Opp. BA

Taylor Rabe, RHP

  • Season stats: 3-3, 4.17 ERA, 1.13 WHIP, 45.1 IP, 44 H, 21 R, 21 ER, 7 BB, 54 SO, .251 Opp. BA

Notable Relief Pitchers

  • Walker Hooks, LHP: 3-1, 2.45 ERA, .82 WHIP, 5 SV, 40.1 IP, 24 H, 14 R, 11 ER, 9 BB, 46 SO, .176 Opp. BA
  • Landon Waters, RHP: 0-1, 0.90 ERA, 1.05 WHIP, 2 SV, 20 IP, 11 H, 4 R, 2 ER, 10 BB, 21 SO, .159 Opp. BA
  • Hudson Calhoun, RHP: 3-3, 4.33 ERA, 1.39 WHIP, 2 SV, 35.1 IP, 29 H, 19 R, 17 ER, 20 BB, 55 SO, .221 Opp. BA
  • Landon Koenig, RHP: 3-0, 5.12 ERA, 1.76 WHIP, 2 SV, 19.1 IP, 29 H, 15 R, 11 ER, 5 BB, 29 SO, .341 Opp. BA

Texas A&M Starting Pitchers

Ethan Darden, LHP

  • Season stats: 4-0, 2.88 ERA, 25 IP, 21 H, 9 R, 8 ER, 10 BB, 19 SO, .231 Opp. BA

Aiden Sims, RHP

  • Season stats: 8-1, 3.60 ERA, 65 IP, 50 H, 30 R, 26 ER, 18 BB, 68 SO, .208 Opp. BA

TBA

Notable Relief Pitchers

  • Clayton Freshcorn, RHP: 2-1, 2.34 ERA, 11 SV, 34.2 IP, 35 H, 10 R, 9 ER, 4 BB, 39 SO, .261 Opp. BA
  • Juan Vargas, RHP: 2-1, 3.91 ERA, 23 IP, 16 H, 10 R, 10 ER, 8 BB, 16 SO, .193 Opp. BA
  • Grant Cunningham, RHP: 3-1, 6.00 ERA, 1 SV, 30 IP, 42 H, 21 R, 20 ER, 9 BB, 26 SO, .333 Opp. BA
  • Shane Sdao, LHP: 3-4, 6.55 ERA, 57.2 IP, 75 H, 44 R, 42 ER, 15 BB, 67 SO, .307 Opp. BA
  • Weston Moss, RHP: 4-2, 5.12 ERA, 51 IP, 50 H, 30 R, 29 ER, 17 BB, 48 SO, .258 Opp. BA
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