With no midweek during the week, Ole Miss jumps right back into SEC play with a three-game series against Missouri at Swayze Field.
The series carries significant weight in the league standings, with Ole Miss and Missouri, along with Kentucky, currently tied for the final spot in the SEC Tournament.
The Tigers are making their first trip to Swayze since 2017, a 2-1 series victory for the Rebels.
The Rebels and Tigers have not faced off in any capacity since splitting four games in 2019. Missouri took a 2-1 series win in Columbia that year but the Rebels avenged with a 2-1 win in the SEC Tournament in Hoover.
Ole Miss is coming off of a 2-1 series loss at No. 4 Arkansas, defeating the Razorbacks 4-2 on Friday.
Dylan DeLucia picked up his fourth win of the season on Friday, allowing two runs over seven innings. The junior struck out a career-high nine batters in the outing, also the most strikeouts by a Rebel pitcher this season.
Jacob Gonzalez and Tim Elko are tied for the third most home runs in SEC play this season with 10 apiece. Elko also ranks third in the conference with 17 homers overall.
Elko ranks second in the SEC with 54 runs batted in this season. 27 of those runs have been driven home during conference games, ranking third in the league.
Gonzalez has scored 48 runs this season to tie for the second most in the SEC. The sophomore has come across the plate 20 times in league games to rank third.
Ole Miss has tallied 72 home runs this season, ranking fifth in the conference and 17th in the nation. The Rebels have hit multiple home runs in 21 games this season.
BACK IN BUSINESS
Making his first appearance following appendix surgery, John Gaddis made a strong return to the bullpen at Arkansas. The lefty delivered 2.1 scoreless innings, scattering a pair of hits and a walk.
GREAT IN A PINCH
After filtering in and out of the starting lineup at the beginning of the year, senior Ben Van Cleve has settled into a role as the Rebels' best option off the bench in a pinch hitting situation. Van Cleve is batting .357 this season as a pinch hitter, including recording a base knock in four of his last six pinch hit opportunities.
LIGHTS OUT LOOSH
In his only four starts of the season, junior college product Dylan DeLucia has been nothing short of electric. In games at Kentucky, at South Carolina, against Mississippi State and at Arkansas, DeLucia allowed just five earned runs over 29 innings of work.
The Port Orange, Florida, native has been in particularly fine form the last two weeks out, becoming the second Rebel since 2014 to throw a nine-inning complete game (Doug Nikhazy, 2021 vs. Mississippi State) against the Bulldogs and striking out a career-high nine batters over seven frames against the Razorbacks.
DeLucia has been strong all season on the road, posting a 1.60 ERA with 29 strikeouts to just five walks in 28.1 innings.
SAC DADDIES
Peyton Chatagnier ranks 13th in the nation in sacrifice flies, pacing the SEC with six. Three of Chatagnier's sacrifices came in the same game as the junior plated Reagan Burford three times in the Friday night win over VCU. Meanwhile, Burford ranks 37th in the country and fifth in the SEC with five sacrifice flies.
#MLBREBS
Ole Miss has four former players currently on MLB rosters in Chris Ellis (Baltimore Orioles), Lance Lynn (Chicago White Sox), Mike Mayers (Los Angeles Angels) and Drew Pomeranz (San Diego Padres).
ELLO GOV'NA
Ole Miss earned a 5-2 win over Mississippi State at Trustmark Park on Tuesday, regaining control of the Governor's Cup for the first time since 2015. The win pulled the Rebels within one in the all-time series for the trophy, with Mississippi State leading 20-19.
REBS DIG THE LONG BALL
Ole Miss has been doing much of its damage this season by sending balls over the fence, ranking 17th in the nation with 72 home runs on the year. The Rebels have two double-digit home run hitters in Tim Elko (17) and Jacob Gonzalez (14) and have had 13 different players go yard. The Rebels have hit back-to-back home runs four times this season, including launching three in a row twice.
TRIPLE THREAT
Jacob Gonzalez lashed his third triple of the season in the Rebels' Governor's Cup win over Mississippi State at Trustmark Park, becoming the first Rebel with at least three triples in a season since Tate Blackmon legged out four in 2017.
PACK SWAYZE
Ole Miss ranks fourth in the nation in both total and average attendance this season. In 25 home games this season, 253,903 total fans have packed the stands at Swayze Field, good for an average of 10,156 per game.
CAP'N CRUSH
Tim Elko has slugged 17 home runs this season, ranking third in the SEC and 11th in the nation, eclipsing his total from last season of 16. The 17 home runs are tied for the fifth most in a single season in program-history. The Lutz, Florida, product has hammered 39 homers in his career, the fifth most of any player to ever don a Rebel uniform and one big fly away from Rebel great Brad Henderson's total.
WE LOVE FREE BASES
Ole Miss has shown patience at the plate and has made it pay off. The Rebels have received 241 free passes via walks and HBPs, with 100 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.
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.
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%
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.
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
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.
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
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
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
