No. 4 Diamond Rebels Close Out Midweek Slate at Arkansas State

Photo by Petre Thomas/Ole Miss Athletics

The No. 4 Ole Miss Rebels close out their final midweek game of the season this evening as they travel over to Jonesboro, Arkansas to take on the Arkansas State Red Wolves. First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m.

Ole Miss (39-13) is coming off its first SEC series sweep of the year, taking all three games from No. 16 Auburn to close the regular season with a 28-4 record at home. Tyler Keenan hit .556 with two home runs, two doubles and six RBI last week to earn SEC Player of the Week honors to go along with back-to-back Freshman of the Week nods in April. He’s the only freshman in the conference to be named POTW this season.
Ole Miss has scored 114 more runs on 100 more hits than this point last year. The Rebel offense has added 24 more doubles, 18 more home runs and 112 more RBI. Ole Miss has also struck out 67 fewer times than it did through 52 games last season. This season, the offense Ole Miss has scored 114 more runs on 100 more hits than this point last year. The Rebel offense has added 24 more doubles, 18 more home runs and 112 more RBI. Ole Miss has also struck out 67 fewer times than it did through 52 games last season.
The diamond Rebels are just one of two clubs in college baseball to rank in batting average and fielding percentage.
Arkansas State (18-29) enters the game after dropping a series to Georgia Southern over the weekend at home.
Kyle MacDonald has paced the A-State offense this season, leading the Red Wolves in batting average (.349), home runs (11), RBI (44), slugging percentage (.629) and on-base percentage (.455).
The Red Wolves’ Jeremy Brown is the team’s only other .300 hitter at .320 on the season. Brown has a team-high 17 doubles. His teammate Grant Hawkins has been the team’s top running threat with 10 stolen bases in 13 attempts, as well as three triples.
For the 13th consecutive season, the Rebels and Red Wolves are playing a home-and-home series. The Rebels took the first half of the slate with a 10-3 victory in Oxford on April 18. The teams have played in the regular season for 25 years running now, every year since 1993. Ole Miss leads the all-time series with Arkansas State 73-23. The Red Wolves took the last two meetings between the schools in Jonesboro, 5-0 in 2017 and 8-6 in 2016.
The probable pitching matchup for tonight’s game will have LHP Jordan Fowler on the hill for the Rebels. Fowler is 5-0 on the season with a 4.08 ERA in 28.2 innings of work. In the last meeting against Arkansas State, he worked 5.0 innings allowing a run, on five hits, while striking out four batters and a walk. The Red Wolves will go with RHP Zachary Patterson. Patterson is 0-3 on the season with a 7.50 ERA in 24 innings pitched.
Fans can watch the game online at AStateRedWolves.com or listen to the call on the Ole Miss Radio Network.

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