Around the Diamond: Ole Miss ‘a resilient bunch’ and walking in Memphis in the midweek

Ole Miss baseball is in its strongest midseason position in years. 

Last the Rebels were in the postseason they won their first-ever national title. Times have been hard since. The Rebels the last two seasons won less than 40 percent of their SEC games. Ole Miss in 2025 was picked by league coaches to finish 15th out of 16 SEC teams.

D1Baseball had Ole Miss as one of its 16 regional hosts in its NCAA Tournament projections entering last weekend. The Rebels only strengthened their case with a series win at Kentucky. 

Ole Miss is up to No. 6 in Top 25 rankings from D1Baseball. The Rebels (24-7, 8-4 SEC) have a Top 10 RPI and next play at Memphis on Tuesday at 6 p.m. CT. 

They’ll host Alcorn State Wednesday at 4 p.m. CT. Friday’s highly-anticipated series opener against No. 5 Tennessee and former Rebels Liam Doyle and Andrew Fischer in Oxford is set for 6:30 p.m. CT.

“The one thing about this group is it’s a resilient bunch,” Ole Miss hitting coach Mike Clement said on the Rebel Yell Hotline. “We could be 11-1. Almost feel like we should be. We could be 5-7, too. It’s just the way of this league, and we have found ways to win. There’s a knack to that. The last couple of years we found ways to lose. 

“This group, at least through 12 SEC games, has found a way to hang around and muddy it up. Sometimes it’s ugly, but we’ve found ways to win.”

HOW TO WATCH

Television/Online: ESPN+ (Tuesday); SEC Network+ (Wednesday)
Play-by-Play: Jeff Brightwell (Tuesday); Jake Hromada (Wednesday)
Color: Greg Gaston (Tuesday); Matt McLaughlin (Wednesday)

HOW TO LISTEN

Radio: Ole Miss Radio Network
Play-by-Play: David Kellum
Color: Brad Henderson

PROJECTED PITCHING MATCHUPS

Memphis: Ole Miss LHP Gunnar Dennis (1-1, 5.25 ERA) vs. Memphis RHP Caden Robinson (1-2, 6.12 ERA)

Alcorn State: Ole Miss RHP Cade Townsend (0-0, 10.24 ERA) vs. TBA

SCOUTING MEMPHIS

Memphis is 12-19 (1-8 American) on the season. The Tigers won their series finale against South Florida on Saturday to snap an 11-game losing streak.

Tiger catcher Jonah Sutton is tied for second in college baseball in runners thrown out (15 of 32). Memphis has limited opponents to five runs or fewer in 19 of its first 31 games. The Tigers are 10-4 when holding opponents to four runs or less. 

Memphis has a collective 4.91 starting ERA and 4.67 bullpen ERA. The Tigers have totaled 221 hits as a team. Ole Miss leads the all-time series, 103-57. The Rebels won, 7-5, last the teams played on March 25 in Oxford.

AROUND THE DIAMOND

Ole Miss has won three consecutive SEC series for the first time since 2018. … The Rebels gave up just 10 runs over the three games at Kentucky, their fewest fewest in an SEC series in some three years. … Riley Maddox led Ole Miss to a 3-1 win in Game 2. Ole Miss last held an SEC opponent to one run or fewer against Arkansas in the 2022 College World Series.

Ole Miss is off to its best SEC start since 2021. 

The Rebels have already matched their series win total (3) from 2024. They’ll match the combined total of the last two seasons if they win another. … Freshman LHP Walker Hooks has a 0.96 ERA over his last four outings. He’s struck out 13 batters over 9.1 innings. … Veteran slugger Luke Hill is hitting .425 with two home runs and eight RBI over a nine-game hitting streak. … Ole Miss is up to 62 home runs this season, the seventh-most in the NCAA and fourth-most in the SEC. … The Rebels are averaging two home runs per game, the nation’s seventh-best mark. … They’re No. 19 nationally in slugging percentage (.536.). Ole Miss pitchers are eighth in the country in strikeouts per nine innings (11.7).