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Ole Miss Baseball Looks to Defend Tournament Crown in Hoover
By Adam Brown
Sports Editor
adam.brown@hottytoddy.com
Ryan Olenek waits for a pitch. Photo by Steven Gagliano.
The Ole Miss Rebels baseball team heads into the 2019 SEC Baseball Tournament as the No. 7 seed. They will take on the No. 10 seeded Missouri Tigers. First pitch is slated tentatively for 1 p.m. tomorrow on the SEC Network.
The Rebels dawn the field as defending 2018 tournament champions.
Ole Miss (32-23, 16-14 SEC) rolls into the Hoover Met after taking the final game on Saturday from the Tennessee Volunteers 5-4 as senior Ryan Olenek recorded the save on the mound. The win snapped a six-game losing skid for the Rebels heading into the postseason.
Missouri enters with a 34-21-1 overall record and 13-16-1 mark in conference play. The Tigers are on a four-game losing streak after being swept by the Florida Gators at home.
The Tigers are led at the plate by Chris Cornelius who has a .327 batting average with 73 base knocks, 12 doubles and 41 RBIs. His teammate Kameron Misner leads the team with 10 home runs.
Ole Miss and Missouri have met 20 times in their history. The two squads are tied after a tightly contested series in Columbia earlier this season, in which Mizzou emerged the victor, two games to one. The Rebels and Tigers first met in 1958, with Mizzou taking both games. The teams have never met in the SEC Tournament.
Ole Miss and Mizzou have met in the postseason twice, both in the 2008 Coral Gables Regional. Missouri took the first meeting 7-0, but the Rebels came back with a 9-6 win in the second meeting before falling 11-2 to Miami in the regional finale.
Earlier this season, Ole Miss traveled to Columbia and suffered a series defeat in which all three games were decided by three runs or fewer.
The probable pitching matchup will showcase the arm of right-hander Will Ethridge who has a 5-6 record and a 3.16 ERA. The Tigers have not named a starter for the game at this time.
If the Rebels fall to the Tigers they will be eliminated from the tournament and await the NCAA Tournament selection show next Monday.
Fans can watch all the action on SEC Network or listen to the call on the Ole Miss Radio Network.
| Mon, Nov 4 |  | vs Long Island University | W, 90-60 |
| Fri, Nov 8 |  | vs Grambling | W, 66-64 |
| Tue, Nov 12 |  | vs South Alabama | W, 64-54 |
| Sat, Nov 16 |  | vs Colorado State | W, 84-69 |
| Thu, Nov 21 |  | vs Oral Roberts | L, 100-68 |
| Thu, Nov 28 |  | vs BYU | W, 96-85 OT |
| Fri, Nov 29 |  | vs 13 Purdue | L, 80-78 |
| Tue, Dec 3 |  | @ Louisville | W, 86-63 |
| Sat, Dec 7 |  | vs Lindenwood | W, 86-53 |
| Sat, Dec 14 |  | vs Southern Miss | W, 77-46 |
| Tue, Dec 17 |  | vs Southern | W, 74-61 |
| Sat, Dec 21 |  | vs Queens University | W, 80-62 |
| Sat, Dec 28 |  | @ Memphis | L, 87-70 |
| Sat, Jan 4 |  | vs Georgia | W, 63-51 |
| Wed, Jan 8 |  | @ 23 Arkansas | W, 73-66 |
| Sat, Jan 11 |  | vs LSU | W, 77-65 |
| Tue, Jan 14 |  | @ 5 Alabama | W, 74-64 |
| Sat, Jan 18 |  | @ 17 Mississippi State | L, 81-84 |
| Wed, Jan 22 |  | vs 13 Texas A&M | L, 62-63 |
| Sat, Jan 25 |  | @ Missouri | 5:00 PM SECN |
| Wed, Jan 29 |  | vs Texas | 8:00 PM ESPN2 |
| Sat, Feb 1 |  | vs 2 Auburn | 3:00 PM TBA |
| Tue, Feb 4 |  | vs 10 Kentucky | 6:00 PM ESPN |
| Sat, Feb 8 | | @ LSU | 7:30 PM SECN |
| Wed, Feb 12 |  | @ South Carolina | 6:00 PM SECN |
| Sat, Feb 15 | | vs 17 Mississippi State | 5:00 PM TBA |
| Sat, Feb 22 |  | @ Vanderbilt | 2:30 PM SECN |
| Wed, Feb 26 | | @ 2 Auburn | 6:00 PM TBA |
| Sat, Mar 1 |  | vs 12 Oklahoma | 1:00 PM TBA |
| Wed, Mar 5 |  | vs 1 Tennessee | 8:00 PM TBA |
| Sat, Mar 8 |  | @ 6 Florida | 5:00 PM SECN |