Cade Townsend
Cade Townsend winds up for a pitch in a game against LSU. | Dylan Cohron-HottyToddy.com Images

Ole Miss Pitching Staff Faces Major Test Against Nation’s Top Offense

BY Taylor Hodges

There hasn’t been much suspense around the rotation of starting pitchers Ole Miss plans to use each weekend and that’s not changing this week.

No. 17 Ole Miss has already announced its starting pitchers for this weekend’s SEC series against No. 5 Georgia. Hunter Elliott will start Friday, Cade Townsend will start Saturday and Taylor Rabe will start the series finale Sunday.

The Rebels pitching staff as a whole has been great this season and constant changes aren’t warranted.

Ole Miss has a 3.86 team ERA that is fourth-best in the SEC and 15th lowest in the nation. The 474 total strikeouts are second in the SEC and fifth in the nation. It’s the Rebels’ biggest strength, which presents an interesting matchup against Georgia.

The Bulldogs’ strength is at the plate, where they’ve hit the most home runs in the nation with 116. They also are second in total RBI with 383. What’s made Georgia a better team this season is that its pitching has improved.

Georgia’s pitching staff has a 5.02 ERA, 1.45 WHIP, 431 strikeouts and 189 walks allowed. It’s not the level of Ole Miss, but with the offense it has, the pitching staff hasn’t need to be elite.

The Bulldogs haven’t officially announced its starting pitchers for the weekend, but two are obvious. Joey Volchko has started most series openers and Dylan Vigue follows him the next day.

The series finale starter has been more fluid. Kenny Ishikawa started the first four SEC series finales, but the last two weeks has seen Matt Scott and Grant Edwards start the final game of the weekend.

Here’s a breakdown of the announced (Ole Miss) and projected (Georgia) starting pitchers for this weekend’s SEC series.

Ole Miss Starting Pitchers

Friday: Hunter Elliott, LHP

  • Season stats: 4-1, 3.78 ERA, 1.36 WHIP, 52.1 IP, 43 H, 23 R, 22 ER, 28 BB, 73 SO, .225 Opp. BA

Saturday: Cade Townsend, RHP

  • Season stats: 4-1, 1.73 ERA, 0.91 WHIP, 41.2 IP, 28 H, 11 R, 8 ER, 10 BB, 61 SO, .183 Opp. BA

Sunday: Taylor Rabe, RHP

  • Seasons stats: 3-2, 4.19 ERA, 1.02 WHIP, 34.1 IP, 30 H, 16 R, 16 ER, 5 BB, 41 SO, .231 Opp. BA

Georgia Projected Starting Pitchers

Friday: Joey Volchko

  • Season stats: 6-2, 3.75 ERA, 1.41 WHIP, 50.1 IP, 46 H, 23 R, 21 ER, 25 BB, 57 SO, .245 Opp. BA

Saturday: Dylan Vigue

  • Season stats: 3-1, 2.51 ERA, 1.14 WHIP, 43 IP, 24 H, 12 R, 12 ER, 25 BB, 53 SO, .161 Opp. BA

Sunday: TBA

  • Kenny Ishikawa
  • Matt Scott
  • Grant Edwards

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