Series Notes: Ole Miss baseball taking new-look rotation to Kentucky, aiming to bounce back in SEC play

LEADING OFF
• Ole Miss returns to the road to resume SEC play this weekend, heading to Lexington to take on Kentucky Friday through Sunday at Kentucky Proud Park.
• The Rebels are seeking to earn series wins in the first two SEC road trips of the season for the first time since 2010 after taking two of three games at Auburn.
• Ole Miss is looking to end a recent run of losing results in recent years to the Wildcats, dropping four of the last five games to Kentucky.
• The Rebels last won a series at Kentucky in 2014, sweeping the series.
• Friday’s game will be Ole Miss’ first at Kentucky Proud Park, which opened ahead of the 2019 season.
• In its most recent action, Ole Miss took down North Alabama 20-3 at Swayze Field on Tuesday. The 20 runs were a season high for the Rebels and the most since scoring 20 against UNA in 2021.
• Ole Miss hammered five home runs in the game, matching its season-high. Among the big flies were the first of the season for Calvin Harris and Justin Bench.
• Via the most recent available data, Ole Miss ranks fourth in the nation in both total attendance (157,762) and average attendance (9,860).
• Ole Miss continues to be ranked in the top-10 in the majority of the nation polls, ranking as high as No. 9 by Baseball America and as low as 20 by Collegiate Baseball.

UPDATING THE POLLS
Ole Miss remains in the top-10 in the majority of the national polls, ranking as high as No. 9 in the Baseball America Poll and as low as No. 20 in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper Poll.

WALK THIS WAY
Calvin Harris returned to the starting lineup with authority on Tuesday against North Alabama, coming a triple short of the cycle. It was the 7th multi-hit game of the season for the sophomore. Harris has registered multiple base knocks in 7-of-8 starts this season.

CAP’N CRUSH
Tim Elko hammered a pair of home runs in Ole Miss series vs. Tennessee, moving into a tie for the SEC lead with 10 on the season and tying for the 12th-most big flies in the nation. The Rebel captain is closing in on the top-10 in career homers at Ole Miss at 32, two behind Sikes Orvis’ 34 dingers.

#PACKSWAYZE
Ole Miss ranks fourth in the nation in both total and average attendance this season. In the 16 home games available in the most recent data, 157,762 total fans have packed the stands at Swayze Field, good for an average of 9,860 per game.

HIGH OCTANE OFFENSE
Ole Miss has scored 223 runs this season, ranking 13th in the nation and second in the SEC. The Rebels’ 9.3 runs per game is also the second highest average in the conference and 13th highest average in college baseball. Ole Miss has posted double-digit runs in 13-of-24 games, scoring 15 or more runs five times.

SAC DADDIES
Peyton Chatagnier and Reagan Burford are tied for second in the SEC and fifth in the nation with five sacrifice flies this season. Three of Chatagnier’s sacrifices came in the same game as the junior plated Burford three times in the Friday night win over VCU.

CROOKED NUMBERS
The Rebel offense has been all over its opponents this season, scoring 223 runs in 191 innings, good for an average of 1.17 runs per inning. Ole Miss has scored early and often, plating multiple runs in 59 of those 191 frames.

PLAINS: CONQUERED
Going on the road to open SEC play, Ole Miss enjoyed a successful weekend on The Plains. The Rebels earned their first series victory at Auburn since 2009, grabbing a 13-5 win on Thursday and clobbering the Tigers 15-2 on Saturday. The Rebels’ 33 runs were their most in a series since 2019, with Saturday’s 15 runs standing as the most since beating those same Auburn Tigers 19-11 in Oxford in 2021.

AIN’T IT GRAND?
Kevin Graham and Tim Elko each hammered a grand slam in the 11-1 Wednesday night win over ULM, with Graham going yard in the fifth and Elko following up with a towering shot to dead center in the sixth. It marked the first game with multiple grand slams in a game for Ole Miss since 1998 against the Memphis Tigers. One of the two players to hit a grand slam that day? Current Ole Miss assistant coach Carl Lafferty

Elko also pummeled a grand slam in Ole Miss’ 16-2 win over Oral Roberts, giving the Rebel captain five in his career, all in the last two seasons.

WE LOVE FREE BASES
Ole Miss has shown patience at the plate and has made it pay off. The Rebels have received 148 free passes via walks and HBPs, with 78 of those runners coming around to score.

SHOW STOPPER
Senior right-handed reliever Brandon Johnson is one of 66 players tabbed to the NCBWA Stopper of the Year Watch List. Johnson is one of nine SEC players and one of four from the SEC West named to the watch list.

THE BOYS ARE BACK!
Ole Miss returns nearly the entirety of its potent offense from the 2021 season with eight of nine positional starters returning to the Rebel lineup, Ole Miss is poised once again to put up gawdy numbers on the scoreboard.

Percentage Return from 2021
• Games Started – 88.6%
• Runs – 88.5%
• Hits – 91.8%
• Doubles – 91.7%
• Triples – 100%
• Home Runs – 90.6%
• RBIs – 91.3%
• Walks – 85.1%

WHO’S NUMBER ONE?
Despite being picked to tie for second in the SEC West, Ole Miss was also projected as SEC Champions with the most first place votes in the 2022 SEC Preseason Poll, voted on by the league’s head coaches. Ole Miss is seeking its first regular season conference title since 2009.

SEC PRESEASON COACHES POLL
East (Championship Votes)
1. Vanderbilt (2)
2. Florida (2)
3. Georgia
4. Tennessee
5. South Carolina
6. Kentucky
7. Missouri

West (Championship Votes)
1. Arkansas (3)
2. Ole Miss (4)
2. Mississippi State (2)
4. LSU (1)
5. Alabama
6. Texas A&M
7. Auburn

THAT’S GOLD, JERRY
Ole Miss’ Hayden Dunhurst and Jacob Gonzalez were two of 55 players named to the 2022 Golden Spikes Award Preseason watch list, announced by USA Baseball. The Rebels are one of just eight teams with multiple players on the list, joining LSU, Arizona State, Arkansas, California, Florida, Texas and Vanderbilt.

STARS AND STRIPES
Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco has been tapped as the manager for the 2022 USA Collegiate National Team for this upcoming summer, marking the Rebel skipper’s managerial debut for the Red, White and Blue. It will be the second time donning a Team USA uniform for Bianco, who served as the pitching coach for the Collegiate National Team in 2013. Under Bianco’s guidance, the USA posted a 1.87 ERA, a 20-3 record and 222 strikeouts. The remaining 2022 Collegiate National Team staff, as well as more information about the 2022 Collegiate National Team schedule, will be announced at a later date.

MISSISSIPPI MADE
Of the 41 players on the Ole Miss roster, 11 hail from the state of Mississippi. The 11 local products are tied for the most for the Rebels since 2017.

SWAYZE CRAZIES
Ole Miss led the nation in attendance in 2021 with 303,859 fans entering the gates at Oxford-University Stadium/Swayze Field across 40 games. The Rebels’ average attendance of 7,596 also ranked first in college baseball, with Ole Miss ranking as one of just three schools to average more than 4,000 fans per game. During the season, Ole Miss welcomed four of the top-10 single game crowds and two of the top-three series crowds ever seen in Oxford, setting the record in the three-game set against Arkansas.

Top-10 Single-Game Crowds
4. April 10 vs. Arkansas – 11,857
5. April 23 vs. LSU – 11,788
7. April 24 vs. LSU – 11,653
8. April 10 vs. Arkansas – 11,524

Top-3 Series Crowds
1. April 10-11 vs. Arkansas – 33,423
3. April 22-24 vs. LSU – 32,476

CONSISTENCY IS KEY
Ole Miss is one of five programs to host at least 10 NCAA Regional appearances since 2004, joining Florida State, Florida, LSU and North Carolina. The Rebels are also one of eight programs to earn at least five regional hosting bids since 2014, being joined by Florida State, Florida, LSU, Louisville, TCU, Vanderbilt and Texas Tech.

JUCO PRODUCTS
Ole Miss has nine junior college products on the 2022 roster, five of which are new additions. Four of the five JUCO players come from schools within the Mississippi Association of Community Colleges Conference.

HELLO FROM THE OTHER SIDE
Ole Miss has bolstered the roster with three new lefties in transfer John Gaddis and true freshmen Hunter Elliott and Luke Ellis. Relief arm Jackson Kimbrell also returns to the Rebel roster.

RESPECT FROM THEIR PEERS
Ole Miss landed a league-high five players on the Preseason All-SEC team, having a player recognized at four of five infield positions.

Ole Miss Preseason All-SEC Selections
• Jacob Gonzalez – Shortstop – First Team
• Hayden Dunhurst – Catcher – Second Team
• Tim Elko – First Base – Second Team
• Peyton Chatagnier – Second Team
• Kevin Graham – Second Team

STARS IN THE MAKING
Ole Miss has six players ranked in D1Baseball’s Top 2022 MLB Draft College Prospect Rankings. All six Rebels are ranked inside the top-150, tied for the most in the top-150 in the nation. Additionally, a pair of Rebs find themself in the top-100 for the 2023 rankings.

Rebels in the Top 2022 MLB Draft Prospect Rankings
• Hayden Dunhurst – No. 27
• TJ McCants* – No. 49
• Derek Diamond – No. 63
• Jack Washburn – No. 101
• Kevin Graham – No. 124
• Drew McDaniel – No. 133
Rebels in the Top 2023 MLB Draft Prospect Rankings
• Jacob Gonzalez – No. 2
• Jack Dougherty – No. 55

* – Draft eligible sophomore

STUDS AROUND THE DIAMOND
When D1Baseball released its top-50 position power rankings this offseason, Ole Miss was well represented, landing at least one player at every single position. The Rebels’ full rankings can be found below:

Rebels in the Top-50 Position Rankings
• Jacob Gonzalez – No. 2 shortstop
• Hayden Dunhurst – No. 4 catcher
• Tim Elko – No. 5 first baseman
• Peyton Chatagnier – No. 13 second baseman
• Justin Bench – No. 25 third baseman
• Kevin Graham – No. 16 outfielder
• TJ McCants – No. 32 outfielder
• Derek Diamond – No. 40 starting pitcher
• Brandon Johnson – No. 41 relief pitcher
• Jack Dougherty – No. 62 relief pitcher
• Jack Washburn – No. 75 starting pitcher
• John Gaddis – No. 76 starting pitcher
• Drew McDaniel – No. 115 starting pitcher

YOU’RE GONZO GO FAR, KID
Bursting onto the scene last season with one of the greatest true freshmen seasons ever in a Rebel uniform, shortstop Jacob Gonzalez quickly established himself as one of the nation’s elite young talents. In addition to being named D1Baseball’s National Freshman of the Year, the California native joined Stephen Head as the only Rebs ever to be named an All-American as a freshman, earning the honor from both D1Baseball and the NCBWA. Starting all 67 games at short, Gonzalez led all true freshmen in hits and runs scored. Poised for another big season, the sophomore has reeled in a myriad of preseason honors for 2022.

Gonzalez’ Preseason Honor Round Up
• Preseason All-America (Baseball America, Collegiate Baseball, D1Baseball, NCBWA, Perfect Game)
• First Team Preseason All-SEC
• D1Baseball No. 2 ‘23 College Draft Prospect
• D1Baseball No. 3 ‘23 College Draft SEC Prospect
• D1Baseball No. 2 ranked shortstop

COME TO THE SIP
With a pair of electric arms departing for the Major League Baseball Draft in Gunnar Hoglund and Doug Nikhazy, Ole Miss utilized the transfer portal to bring in some talent on the mound in Division I transfers John Gaddis and Jack Washburn. Both bring quality experience to the Rebel roster, with Gaddis pitching four seasons at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Washburn moving to Oxford after two seasons at Oregon State.

The Gaddis File
• 2021 All-Southland Second Team
• 13 appearances with 10 starts in 2021
• Won five games with a team-low 2.25 ERA
• 72 strikeouts in 64.0 innings of work
• 7.0 or more innings in 6-of-last-7 starts

The Washburn File
• Son of former MLB star Jarrod Washburn
• 21 appearances with five starts in 2021
• 3.12 ERA with 43 strikeouts in 34.2 innings