On3 Things to Know: The kids are all right as Ole Miss baseball hosts UALR in the midweek
Ole Miss’ final, desperate sprint towards a spot in the postseason is officially on following the Rebels’ first SEC series win of the year.
But they’ve got some midweek business to take care of first.
Ole Miss (23-21, 5-16 SEC) hosts Arkansas-Little Rock (25-16, 10-5 OVC) Tuesday at 11 a.m. CT for its annual Kids Day game at Swayze Field. The Trojans are visiting Oxford for the first time since 2021.
The Rebels have won five straight games over a six-year span in the series. Their last loss came in 2010. Notably, Mike Bianco — who is in his 23rd season as head coach of the Rebels — led Ole Miss to a series win over Little Rock in his first three games as coach back in 2001.
The Rebels took two of three over Georgia last weekend, including a walk-off winner on Sunday.
“It’s huge for momentum,” Ole Miss veteran outfielder TJ McCants said afterwards. He was responsible for the game-winning base hit, which scored pinch runner Judd Utermark.
“I think it’ll help us to ride on that the next couple weekends.”
Let’s take a closer look at the matchup with Arkansas-Little Rock, with some notes provided by Ole Miss Athletics.
RELATED: Ole Miss secured first SEC series win and kept Hoover within reach in the process
DIAMOND CUTTERS
Ole Miss is the fourth-best fielding team in the SEC. The Rebels are ranked No. 13 in the nation with a .981 fielding percentage. … Ole Miss is third in the SEC in doubles (86). They Rebels are averaging almost two doubles per game. … Veteran slugger Kemp Alderman is riding a 39-game on-base streak that dates back to February 25. His is the the longest streak of the season for Ole Miss. … Alderman has hit a career-best 18 home runs on the year — the fifth-most in the SEC and good for 13th in the NCAA. … Junior third baseman Ethan Lege has at least one hit in eight of his last nine games. He’s raised his batting average from .236 to .270 over that period. … Lege is the hardest hitter to strike out in the SEC. He’s only punched out 13 times in 141 at bats.
WHAT’S AT STAKE
Ole Miss is tied with Missouri in the SEC standings and will visit the Tigers for a three-game series this weekend.
In-state rival Mississippi State was swept by Tennessee over the weekend and sits just a game in front of both Ole Miss and Missouri in the pursuit of a bid to the SEC Tournament in Hoover, Alabama, May 23-28.
The Bulldogs (24-20, 6-15) also hold the tiebreaker. Two of State’s final three series are against No. 7 Arkansas and at No. 1 LSU.
YOUNG GUNS
Ole Miss freshman pitchers are responsible for nearly 49 percent (185.2 innings) of the team’s innings on the mound this season. Seven have pitched at least seven innings. Five have pitched 25 or more.
JT Quinn leads all Rebel newcomers with 47 innings. Not far behind is Grayson Saunier (39). Quinn, Saunier and Jordan Vera — who will start against UALR — have combined to start 23 of 44 games.
In all, 250.2 innings (66.12 percent) have been covered by Rebels who weren’t on the roster last season. Sophomore staff ace Hunter Elliott has made just two starts and last week was shut down again as he felt further discomfort in his UCL. He felt the strain after his opening-day start in February — an 11-2 win over Delaware.
He’s likely done for the season.
RELATED: Ole Miss needed Grayson Saunier to step up. He did, and now he’s an SEC awards honoree.
FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK
The right-handed-throwing Saunier was named SEC Freshman of the Week by the league office on Monday.
Saunier made two starts against SEC opponents last week — first in the annual Governor’s cup against in-state rival Mississippi State in the Governor’s Cup, and later in the series finale against Georgia.
Saunier stepped into the rotation spot once again vacated by Elliott and gave Ole Miss his best start of his young Ole Miss career. He allowed just one earned run in both starts and gave up only five hits over 9.2 innings. He issued only two walks and struck out 10. Opponents hit .147 against him.
The 10 strikeouts tied for the most in the conference last week.
He retired the first 10 batters he faced in the comeback win over Georgia, as well as 15 of the first 16. His six innings were a career-high, and his six strikeouts were the second-highest total as a Rebel. It was also the first time in Saunier’s career he hasn’t issued a walk in a start.
Saunier has allowed all of one earned run in three of his last four starts and one or less in five.
CONTACT HIGH
Lege is a junior college transfer in his first Ole Miss season and continues to be the hardest hitter to strike out in the SEC. He has struck out just 13 times in 141 at bats and more than once in a game in a single game (February 24 vs. Maryland).
He has a paltry six strikeouts in SEC play.
ALL DA MAN
Along with the 39-game on-base streak, Alderman is on a nine-game hitting streak and has 11 hits in his last five games.
Alderman is ranked third in the SEC in total bases. He’s fourth in RBI, fifth in home runs, seventh in batting average and eighth in slugging percentage. The outfielder leads the team in batting average (.374), slugging percentage (.747), hits (65), RBI (57), total bases (130) and home runs (18).
COMING HOME
Ole Miss star shortstop Jacob Gonzalez has been climbing the program’s all-time runs scored leaderboard this season.
Gonzalez is a projected Top 10 selection in the upcoming 2023 MLB Draft this summer. Gonzalez is No. 5 all-time at Ole Miss in career runs scored (180) and needs only 18 more runs to claim the top spot. Ole Miss has just under half the season left to play.
Brad Henderson owns the record. Henderson scored 198 runs over 203 career games. He’s currently the color analyst for the Ole Miss Sports Network. Henderson on Monday joined the Rebel Yell Hotline.
Gonzalez has the second (73, 2021) and fifth-highest (67, 2022) records for runs scored in a single season.
