On3 Things to Know: Ole Miss’ next series pits last two national champs (and in-state rivals) against each other

Following a midweek split, the defending-champion Ole Miss baseball team — running out of time to turn around their 2023 fortunes around — heads to in-state rival Mississippi State for a three-game weekend series starting Friday.

The teams will play four times this season. They’ll meet for a final time April 15 in Pearl, Mississippi, for the Governor’s Cup.

Ole Miss (19-14, 2-10 SEC) and Mississippi State (20-14, 3-9) split the series (2-2) last season. The Rebels haven’t won an SEC series against the Bulldogs since their sweep in Oxford back in 2015. The weekend pits the last two national champions against each other. Mississippi State won in 2021, followed by the Rebels a year later.

Let’s take a more in-depth look at the matchup, with game notes provided by Ole Miss Athletics.

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KEMP-TANI?

Rebel outfielder and middle-of-the-order slugger Kemp Alderman made his first Ole Miss appearance as a pitcher in the ninth inning of Wednesday night’s win over Alcorn State. Alderman strut out three of the four batters he faced. He also walked one. 

At the dish Alderman was 2 for 4 with a home run, three RBI and two runs scored. He’s riding a nine-game hitting streak and a 28-game on-base streak. He’s hit six extra-base hits in his last seven games. 

Alderman is ranked third in the SEC in RBI and RBI per game. He’s fifth in the league in home runs and home runs per game.

LEADING THE WAY

Ole Miss junior catcher and three-hole hitter Calvin Harris is 13 for 30 (.433) over his last seven games. He’s scored 10 runs and knocked in five. He has six doubles. 

Harris has five multi-hit games over that span. He’s scored at least one run in 12 of his 14 games and currently leads the team in batting average (.376), hits (50) and doubles (12). Harris had at least one home run, two doubles, three total hits, two RBI and two runs scored in each of the previous two games.

HOT CORNER

Transfer third baseman Ethan Lege hit .700 (7 for 10) with four RBI, two runs scored and a home run in last weekend’s series against Arkansas. Groff had three hits in back-to-back games for the first time this season. He was just a triple shy of the cycle in Game 2.

Lege, in his first season at Ole Miss after transferring in from junior college, led the SEC in batting average last week by almost 200 points. He’s only struck out 12 times in 97 at bats and six times total in SEC play.

CLUTCH GENE

Ole Miss has scored 31 total runs with two outs over their last nine games — accounting for just over half of its run production. The Rebels against Arkansas scored seven of their 13 total runs with two outs. They’re hitting .302 with two outs as a team.

Jacob Gonzalez is hitting .545 (18 for 33) and has 16 RBI with two outs. Alderman has a team0leading 21 two-out RBI.

OUT OF THE GATE

Ole Miss has scored 140 runs in the first four innings of games — good for over half (53.8 percent) of its run production. The Rebels are outscoring opponents 73-28 in the first two innings of play.

COMING HOME

Gonzalez has been climbing the Ole Miss all-time runs scored leaderboard this season. 

Gonzalez — widely regarded as at least a projected Top 10 selection in this summer’s MLB Draft — is No. 8 all-time at Ole Miss in career runs scored (172). He’s 26 runs away from taking the top spot. 

Brad Henderson, who is current the color analyst for the Ole Miss Sports Network, owns the record. He scored 198 runs over 203 career games.Gonzalez, meanwhile, owns the second and fifth-highest records for runs scored in a single season. 

He had 73 in 2021 and 67 in 2022.

SECOND TO ONE

Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco moved past the legendary Skip Bertman for second-most wins by an SEC head coach last week. Bianco played for Bertman at LSU from 1988-89. He also coached on his staff from 1993-97. 

Ron Polk is the all-time league leader with 1,218 combined wins at Mississippi State and Georgia.

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GOING PRO

Three former Ole Miss Rebels found themselves ranked in the Top-30 Prospects Lists for their respective MLB organizations entering the new season. 

Gunnar Hoglund is the No. 15 prospect in the Oakland Athletics organization. Ryan Rolison comes in at No. 28 prospect for the Colorado Rockies, while Doug Nikhazy is No. 30 for the Cleveland Guardians.

Lance Lynn (Chicago White Sox), Nick Fortes (Miami Marlins), Chad Smith (Oakland Athletics), Drew Pomeranz (San Diego Padres) and Rolison (Colorado Rockies) all started the season on the active 40-man MLB rosters for their clubs.

WELCOME TO THE SHOW

Eleven freshmen have made their Ole Miss debuts 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.

MISSISSIPPI MADE

Twelve of the 39 players on Ole Miss’ current roster hail from Mississippi. The next-closest state is Florida (5), followed by Tennessee and California (both with three). 

In all, 17 states are represented on the Rebels’ roster.