Ole Miss pitcher Hunter Elliott against Nevada.
Ole Miss pitcher Hunter Elliott against Nevada. | Dylan Cohron-HottyToddy.com Images

Breaking Down Ole Miss vs Texas Pitching Matchups for SEC Opening Weekend

BY Taylor Hodges

It’s hard to argue against the SEC being the best college baseball conference.

All 16 teams currently have winning records and 11 teams are ranking in D1Baseball’s Top 25. National leaderboards are littered with SEC teams and players at the top.

And they’re all about to start butting heads with one another.

The 2026 SEC baseball schedule is set to begin this weekend. For Ole Miss, that means a road trip to Austin to face No. 2 Texas. So, much for easing into things.

Both the Rebels and Longhorns have elite-level pitching staffs and it shows in the leaderboards.

Texas is ranked No. 3 in ERA at 2.42. Ole Miss is No. 7 at 2.62. Ole Miss has the fourth-most strikeouts (218) and Texas (180) is 22nd.  Opponents are batting .182 against the Longhorns and .210 against the Rebels.

Don’t be surprised a pitcher’s duel once or twice this weekend.

Ole Miss has already announced its starting pitchers for the weekend and it’s the same rotation that’s been used in even weekend series.

Texas has yet to announce it’s starting pitcher rotation, but there are three pitchers with four starts, all in weekend series games. That’s what we’ll use below and update later when the Longhorns make an official announcement.

Here’s a breakdown of the pitching matchups we’ll see this weekend.

Ole Miss Starting Pitchers

Friday: Hunter Elliott, LHP

  • Season: 2-0, 3.66 ERA, 19.2 IP, 13 H, 9 R, 8 ER, 15 BB, 30 K, .194 Opp. BA, 1.42 WHIP

Saturday: Cade Townsend, RHP

  • Season: 2-0, 0.48 ERA, 18.2 IP, 10 H, 1 R, 4 BB, 32 K, .152 Opp. BA, .75 WHIP

Sunday: Wil Libbert, LHP

  • Season: 2-1, 4.58 ERA, 19.2 IP, 16 H, 10 R, 7 BB, 24 K, .232 Opp. BA, 1.17 WHIP

Notable Relief Pitchers

  • Landon Koenig, RHP: 1-0, 1.17 ERA, 2 SV, 7.2 IP, 12 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 13 K, .353 Opp. BA, 1.70 WHIP
  • Taylor Rabe, RHP: 2-0, 2.03 ERA, 1 SV, 13.1 IP, 8 h, 2 R, 1 BB, 14 K, .174 Opp.BA, 0.68 WHIP
  • Hudson Calhoun, RHP: 1-0, 2.63 ERA, 13.2 IP, 11 H, 4 R, 3 BB, 22 K, .224 Opp. BA, 1.02 WHIP
  • JP Robertson, RHP: 2-1, 3.24 ERA, 8.1 IP, 10 H, 5 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 16 K, .294 Opp. BA, 1.56 WHIP

Texas Starting Pitchers

Friday: Ruger Riojas, RHP

  • Season: 4-0, 1.23 ERA, 22 IP, 11 H, 3 R, 3 BB, 42 K, .143 Opp. BA, 0.64 WHIP

Saturday: Luke Harrison, LHP

  • Season: 1-0, 3.06 ERA, 17.2 IP, 17 H, 8 R, 6 ER, 8 BB, 17 K, .246 Opp. BA, 3.06 WHIP

Sunday: Dylan Volantis, LHP

  • Season: 2-0, 1.54 ERA, 23.1 IP, 14 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 7 BB, 29 K, .269 Opp. BA, 0.90 WHIP

Notable Relief Pitchers

  • Thomas Burns, RHP: 0-0, 1.24 ERA, 2 SV, 5.2 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 11 K, .150 Opp. BA, 1.24 WHIP
  • Max Grubbs, RHP: 2-0, 3.37 ERA, 10.2 IP, 8 H, 4 R, 5 BB, 12 K, .216 Opp. BA, 1.22 WHIP
  • Brett Crossland, RHP: 1-0, 1.69 ERA, 5.1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 50 K, .056 Opp. BA, 0.38 WHIP
  • Michael Winter, RHP: 0-0, 0.00 ERA, 1 SV, 6.2 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 8 K, .217 Opp. BA, 1.35 WHIP

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