April 26, 2012

Game Notes at Miss. State

#18 Ole Miss (27-14, 9-9 SEC) at Mississippi State (25-16, 8-10 SEC)
Starkville, Miss. • Dudy-Noble Field
April 27-29 • 7:00 PM/2:00 PM/1:30 PM

Radio: Full Ole Miss Network
Announcers: David Kellum & Keith Kessinger
Television: SportSouth (Friday/Saturday); CSS (Sunday)
Announcers: SS: Dave Neal & Larry Conley; CSS: Paul Crane & Jay Powell
Internet Stats: Click Here
RebelVision/Audio: Click Here

THIS WEEK FOR OLE MISS:
Ole Miss continues Southeastern Conference play on the road at arch-rival Mississippi State. All three games of the weekend series will be televised. Friday’s opener will begin at7:00 p.m. and be carried by SportSouth, while Saturday starts at 2 p.m. on SportSouth and Sunday’s game is at 1:30 p.m. on CSS.

NEXT WEEK FOR THE REBELS:
Ole Miss will kick-off a busy week next week with a Tuesday game against Southern Miss at Trustmark Park in Pearl to make up for the rained out game earlier this season. The Rebels then return home to host Murray State on Wednesday night at 6:30 p.m. before hosting the LSU Tigers in a three-game series in Oxford over the weekend. Game times are set for 6:30 p.m., 2 p.m. and 1:30 p.m.

PROBABLE PITCHING MATCH-UPS:
FRIDAY, 7:00 P.M. (SportSouth)
MSU - Chris Stratton, Jr., RHP
OM - Bobby Wahl, So., RHP
NOTING WAHL: Sophomore right-hander Bobby Wahl takes the mound for the series opener against Mississippi State to make his 11th start of the season. Wahl has posted a 5-0 record with a 2.15 ERA through his 10 starts and taken five no decisions, but left the game with the lead against No. 1 Kentucky, No. 15 Arkansas, and Georgia. He has posted wins over No. 10 TCU, Houston, UNC-Wilmington, Auburn and No. 1 Florida. Through 54.1 innings of work, Wahl has posted 60 strikeouts to 21 walks and holds hitters to a .213 batting average. He was selected to compete with the USA Baseball National Team earlier this weekend and also named to the National Pitcher of the Year Watch list by the College Baseball Hall of Fame earlier this week.

SATURDAY, 2:00 P.M. (SportSouth)
MSU - Kendall Graveman, Jr., RHP
OM - Mike Mayers, So., RHP
NOTING MAYERS: Sophomore right-hander Mike Mayers takes the mound on Saturday to make his 10th start of the season and third Saturday start of the year. Mayers has started on Saturday twice before, picking up wins at No. 1 Kentucky and over No. 15 Arkansas. he combined with R.J. Hively to post a two-hit shutout of the 15th-ranekd Razorbacks last week. In his team-leading 58.1 innings of work, Mayers has posted a 4-2 record with a 3.70 ERA and has struck out 39 batters while walking 17 and holding batters to a .222 batting average in his time on the mound.

SUNDAY, 1:30 P.M. (CSS)
MSU - TBA
OM - TBA

A LOOK AT MISSISSIPPI STATE:
The Bulldogs of Mississippi State enter the weekend series with Ole Miss holding an overall record of 25-16 and 8-10 in the SEC. The Bulldogs are coming off a midweek win over Southern Miss and a series sweep of Tennessee at home last weekend. As a team, Mississippi State is batting at a .273 clip with 17 home runs and 181 RBI. Adam Frazier leads the Bulldogs with a .350 batting average and has posted 18 RBI. Wes Rea leads the run production with 39 RBI, while Trey Porter has posted a team-high five home runs. The Bulldog pitching staff holds a 2.96 ERA with 373 strikeouts and 125 walks while holding hitters to a .246 batting average. Friday night starter Chris Stratton is 7-0 on the year with a 2.71 ERA and has 88 strikeouts to 16 walks this season.

OLE MISS VS. MISSISSIPPI STATE:
Ole Miss and Mississippi State have faced off 438 times with the Rebels trailing in the all-time series 202-231-5. The two teams first met in 1893 with the Bulldogs winning the first meeting and the second ending in a tie. The two teams met again in 1895 with the only meeting ending in a tie. The squads split their two meetings in the 1897 meetings.

LAST TIME OUT VS. MISSISSIPPI STATE:
Ole Miss and Mississippi State last met at Trustmark Park for the annual Governor’s Cup game, with the Rebels picking up a 6-3 win over the Bulldogs. Freshman RHP Hawtin Buchanan was named the MVP and picked up the relief win, working 2.2 innings and holding the Bulldogs hitless with five strikeouts. Matt Snyder led the team at the plate, going 3-for-4 with two RBI and a run scored to lead the Rebels to the win. Ole Miss and Mississippi State are now 3-3 in the Governor’s Cup game played in Pearl.

BIANCO VS. MISSISSIPPI STATE:
Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco has faced off against Mississippi State 49 times in his tenure at Ole Miss and holds a 26-23 record in that time. Interestingly enough, Bianco holds a winning record against MSU in Starkville and Jackson, but not in Oxford or the SEC Tournament.

vs. MISSISSIPPI STATE
in Oxford: 8-10
in Starkville: 9-6
in Jackson: 8-4
in SEC Tournament: 1-3
Series Wins: 6
Series Lost: 5
Series Sweeps: 2
Series Swept: 2

GAMES ON REBELVISION:
Fans of Ole Miss baseball who can’t make it to Swayze Field can catch all the action live on the subscription based RebelVision or listen to the games online. Both features can be found at www.OleMissSports.com on any home game not carried live on television as a part of the Southeastern Conference’s 2012 television package. Certain road games will be carried where an agreement has been reached with the host institution for a video share.

LISTEN TO THE GAMES ONLINE:
Rebel fans who can’t make it to the game at Swayze Field have options for catching all the action with Rebel Baseballl. In addition to the RebelVision option for video and audio, fans can also download the Ole Miss App for their phone and receive live stats and streaming audio right in the palm of their hand.

HIT STREAKS ON THE LINE:
Three Rebels hold hit streaks of more than two games heading into the Tuesday night contest against Memphis at AutoZone Park. Alex Yarbrough leads the team with an active streak of 20 games with a hit, while Will Allen is right behind him with a hit in the last 11 games. Blake Newalu has hit in four straight games.

THEY KEEP REACHING BASE:
Alex Yarbrough also currently leads the team in consecutive games reaching base this season. Yarbrough has reached safely in 20 straight games to lead the team. Will Allen (11), Auston Bousfield (10), and Blake Newalu (4) round out the list who have reached in more than two straight games.

NATIONAL PITCHER OF THE YEAR WATCH:
Sophomore right-hander Bobby Wahl was one of 51 pitchers named to the watch list for National Pitcher of the Year by the College Baseball Hall of Fame earlier this week. Wahl is one of nine Southeastern Conference pitchers named to the list that will be narrowed to a list of finalists in June.

USA BASEBALL NATIONAL TEAM SELECTION:
Wahl also gained recognition from USA Baseball this week when he was selected to compete with the USA Baseball National Collegiate Team. Wahl is one of seven players currently selected to the 22-man roster and is the seventh player selected to compete with the international squad under Mike Bianco. He joins Stephen Head, Seth Smith, Zack Cozart, Lance Lynn, Cody Satterwhite and Drew Pomeranz.