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Rebel Roundabout: Tim Elko shows again why he’s Ole Miss baseball’s Home Run King

Ben Garrettby:Ben Garrett•05/29/24•

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All-time Ole Miss great Tim Elko (Photo credit: Birmingham Barons/X)

The Birmingham Barons haven’t lost in seven games since former Ole Miss shortstop Jacob Gonzalez was promoted to AA last week.

But it was another former Rebel who shined in a 4-0 win over Rocket City on Tuesday night. 

Three-time Ole Miss captain Tim Elko clubbed his sixth home run of the season — a three-run shot, which also scored Gonzalez, who had a hit in four at-bats on the night. Gonzalez is hitting .424 with a 1.035 OPS. 

Elko tied for the team lead in hits (2). He also paced the Barons in RBI (3) and walks (2). His batting average was hovering around .270 when Gonzalez, his former Ole Miss teammate, came up. He’s since climbed to .291 to pair with his .814 OPS.

Elko and Gonzalez were the primary first baseman and shortstop, respectively, for Ole Miss’ title-winning team in 2022. Elko topped the Rebels in slugging percentage (.642), RBI (75), home runs (24) and total bases (154). He set a new single-season program record for home runs. 

Gonzalez was a then-sophomore and had a career-high 18 homers. He logged team-highs in runs (73), walks (50) and triples (3). Gonzalez was 3 for 4 with a home run, two RBI and two runs scored in the clinching win of a two-game sweep of Oklahoma in the finals of the College World Series.

The White Sox drafted Gonzalez with the No. 15 overall selection in the 2023 MLB Draft. Elko was a 10th-rounder. Birmingham and Rocket City will play a doubleheader on Wednesday. First pitch for Game 1 is set for 5 p.m. CT.

OLE MISS MEN’S GOLF LANDS TWO ON PING ALL-REGION TEAM

Ole Miss golf sophomores Michael La Sasso and Cameron Tankersley have been named to the NCAA Division I PING All-Region Team. 

Both were selections of the Southeast region. Ole Miss this season earned its highest-ever postseason seeding (No. 2, NCAA Stanford Regional) and finished in the Top 5 in all but three tournaments.

La Sasso topped all Rebels in stroke average (69.76). He’s just the 16th Rebel in history named first-team All-SEC. La Sasso was a Top 20 finisher in every regular-season event (an overall total of seven) and was Top 3 four times. 

He closed out as a career-best third in the 2024 Mason Rudolph Championship. He’ll compete for Team USA at the 2024 Arnold Palmer Cup this summer. 

Tankersley competed in all 10 tournaments for the Rebels and was second in stroke average (70.27). He had seven Top 20 finishes, including a career-best third at the 2024 Mason Rudolph Championship.

Tankersley was the lowest-scoring Rebel in regional play. He fired a career-low, 54-hole score of 204 (-6) to settle for eighth.

OLE MISS WOMEN’S TRACK AND FIELD RANKED NO. 10

The USTFCCCA Rating Index, on Tuesday, released its final national rankings ahead of the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Oregon June 5-8. 

Ole Miss women’s track and field was placed at No. 10, its 16th all-time Top 10 slotting. Thirteen have come under ninth-year head coach Connie Price-Smith, with six a result of the 2024 outdoor season. Five were from the Rebel women. 

The highest placement was No. 5 in Week 2. Ole Miss has now appeared in the national Top 25 a total of 58 times. The first was 2008, while Price-Smith has overseen 69 of 128 in school history.

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