Big Moves for a Big Game: McCausland gets the start as Ole Miss baseball faces Southern Miss
Recently-ranked Ole Miss baseball will again start a transfer in the midweek, but the Rebels are going with Will McCausland instead of Alex Canney against No. 22 Southern Miss.
Canney was impressive enough in a walk-off win over Arkansas State in the Rebels’ home opener. It’s more a statement on the emergence of Will McCausland, who picked up a win in 3.2 innings of relief in a win over then-No. 15 Clemson.
McCausland (1-0, 2.45 ERA) is a transfer from Saint Joseph’s. Against the Tigers he struck out 8 of 15 batters and surrendered just one run on three hits with a walk. He’ll oppose USM RHP McCarty English (0-0, 40.50 ERA).
No. 24 Ole Miss is 6-1 on the year following a sweep of Eastern Kentucky over the weekend. First pitch against the Golden Eagles is 4 p.m. CT.
“It was good, especially after the last two years,” Ole Miss hitting coach Mike Clement said, in a sit-down with the Ole Miss Spirit’s ‘Talk of Champions’ podcast. “You want to pile up as many in the (win) column as you can. Now we’ve done that and we’ve been pretty good.”
Ole Miss started four pitchers last week: Canney, Hunter Elliott, Riley Maddox and Mason Nichols. They combined for a 0.50 ERA and just one earned run allow over 18 innings. The quartet totaled 24 strikeouts to only four walks and held opponents to a .164 batting average.
“I think confidence is building, especially coming back from Texas,” Clement said. “Our guys feel pretty good about it.”
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SCOUTING SOUTHERN MISS
Ole Miss is 84-54 all-time against Southern Miss, though the Golden Eagles took last year’s matchup, 7-4.
Christian Ostrander is in his second season as USM head coach. The Golden Eagles last season went 43-20 and finished second in the Sun Belt Conference. They captured the conference tournament title.
USM is off to a hot start in 2025. The Golden Eagles have won seven of their first eight games, including a 2-1 series victory over Louisiana Tech over the weekend.
AROUND THE DIAMOND
Ole Miss’ weekend rotation (Elliott, Maddox and Nichols) had a collective 0.60 ERA with 20 strikeouts against EKU. … The seven runs allowed were the fewest in a weekend by an Ole Miss pitching staff in just over two years. Elliott tied a career high with 10 strikeouts on Friday. He worked six scoreless and picking up his second win of the year. … Elliott and Mason Morris, who got the save on Friday, faced just two batters over the minimum as they combined for the Rebels’ first shutout since 2023.
The Rebel pitching staff as a whole put up a 1.70 ERA last week to go along with 52 strikeouts.
Freshman Hayden Federico hit .625 (5 for 8) and reached base at least three times in every game he appeared. … Rebel pitchers are 18th nationally in strikeouts per nine innings (12.1). … Louisville transfer slugger Isaac Humphrey is Top 20 in both walks and walks per game (1.43). … Veteran infielder Luke Hill is Top 50 in in home runs, total bases, runs scored and total hits.Hill leads the Rebels in slugging percentage, runs scored, hits, RBI, home runs and total bases. … Federico and Hill are the only Rebels to have three hits in a game this season. They’ve each done so twice. … The Rebels will host Wright State for three at Swayze Field this weekend.
