No. 7 Ole Miss Heads to Georgia for a Cross-Divisional Series

Brady Bramlett
Photo by Joshua McCoy/Ole Miss Athletics

The No. 7 Ole Miss baseball team faces the Georgia Bulldogs this weekend in a cross-divisional series.

Ole Miss (34-12, 12-9 SEC) steps back on to the diamond after defeating Arkansas-Pine Bluff 12-1 on Wednesday night. Last weekend, the Rebels took two-of-three from LSU to win the series.

Junior J.B. Woodman is the reigning NCBWA National Hitter of the Week and SEC Player of the week. Tate Blackman has reached base in 31 of the last 32 games. His teammate Errol Robinson is hitting .342 over the last 19 games.

The Rebels are 30-0 this season when leading after the sixth inning. Ole Miss has won at least 30 games for the 19th consecutive season.

Let’s take a closer look at the Georgia Bulldogs.

Playing the toughest schedule in the country, Georgia enters the weekend with a 22-23 record, including 7-14 in SEC play. The Bulldogs did not play a midweek game and are coming off a series setback to Vanderbilt. UGA lost all three games to the Commodores last weekend but picked up a big non-conference win over No. 25 Georgia Tech. Junior Skyler Weber leads Georgia with team highs in batting average (.318), doubles (10) and steals (10).

On the mound, junior Robert Tyler has been impressive throughout the 2016 campaign. Along with throwing a one-hit shutout against Alabama (April 1), Tyler has recorded 76 strikeouts and has held opposing hitters to a .187 average over 59.1 innings of work. Scott Stricklin is in his third season as the Bulldogs’ head coach.

Coach Mike Bianco will send to the hill this weekend Bramlett, Parkinson and McAuthor respectively. The Bulldogs will go with Robert Tyler and Connor Jones on Friday and Saturday respectively. The Sunday starter for Georgia has not been announced yet.

The all-time series between the Rebels and Bulldogs is tied at 37-37 with Ole Miss taking two-of-three in 2014, the last time these two teams met on the diamond. After the Rebels cruised to a 12-2 victory in the series opener at Swayze Field, the remaining two games became tight, low-scoring affairs. Georgia evened the series with a 2-0 win in a pitcher’s duel before Ole Miss claimed the series finale, 2-1, in extra innings.

Game times for this series are set for tonight at 6 p.m., Saturday at 1 p.m. and noon on Sunday. Fans can listen to all the action on the Ole Miss Radio Network or watch the game on SEC Network+.

Adam Brown is the sports editor for HottyToddy.com. He can be reached at adam.brown@hottytoddy.com.

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