By Adam Brown
Sports Editor
adam.brown@hottytoddy.com
Ole Miss opens postseason play Tuesday in Alabama at the Hoover Met against the No. 24 Vanderbilt Commodores in the 2022 SEC Baseball Tournament. The Rebels and the Commodores are the third game of the opening day. First pitch is set 4:30 p.m. on SEC Network.
Ole Miss (32-21, 14-16) is looking to advance into the double-elimination portion of the tournament with a win over Vandy. The Rebels come into this season’s tournament as the No. 9 seed.
Ole Miss closed out the regular season by taking one game of the series against No. 4 Texas A&M. In Friday’s victory, the Rebels racked up 14 runs on 17 hits, the most in both categories in an SEC game since the final game of the Auburn series.
Heading into this year’s tournament, Ole Miss had three players land on All-SEC teams on Monday. Jacob Gonzalez was a first-team honoree, while Tim Elko earned second-team recognition and Hunter Elliott earned an SEC All-Freshman spot.
Vanderbilt rolls into Hoover with a 35-19 overall record and a 14-16 mark in league play. The Commodores got swept by LSU to close out the regular season.
Vanderbilt has two batters batting over .350 on the season with Spencer Jones at .379 and Dominic Keegan with a .366 average. Keegan leads the club with 12 home runs.
The Commodores are hitting .287 on the season and opponents have a .216 average.
The probable pitching matchup will have right-hander Dylan DeLucia for the Rebels. DeLucia is 5-1 on the season with a 4.60 ERA, 64 strikeouts and 20 walks. Vanderbilt will send southpaw Carter Holton. Holton is 7-3 with a 3.42 ERA.
While the two sides haven’t met this season, Ole Miss and Vanderbilt squared off five times last season, with Ole Miss taking two-of-three games in Oxford and the two teams splitting two games in Hoover.
