Ole Miss coach Mike Bianco walks off the field Friday at Baum Walker Stadium in Fayetteville, Ark. | Nilsen Roman-HottyToddy.com
Ole Miss coach Mike Bianco walks off the field Friday at Baum Walker Stadium in Fayetteville, Ark. | Nilsen Roman-HottyToddy.com

How to Watch No. 17 Ole Miss Baseball vs. No. 22 Arkansas, Game Two

BY Taylor Hodges

Friday night is one No. 17 Ole Miss will hope to purge from its memories as quickly as possible.

A 12-2 loss at No. 22 Arkansas that ended after seven innings isn’t the start to the weekend the Rebels had hoped for. And it’s been said before, but the next baseball game is never far away and that rings true this weekend.

Ole Miss and Arkansas will meet for game two of the weekend SEC series on Saturday afternoon. Here’s everything to know about the game.

Game One Recap

Ole Miss never really settled into the series opener in Fayetteville, and Arkansas made sure the night ended early. The Razorbacks tagged Hunter Elliott for three home runs across three innings and rolled to a 12-2 run‑rule win in seven. Ole Miss managed just six hits, with its only scoring coming on solo shots from Judd Utermark and Austin Fawley. Utermark’s homer was No. 47 of his career, pulling him within one of the program’s all‑time record, but it was one of the few bright spots in a game that tilted Arkansas’ way from the second inning on.

After Elliott worked a clean first, Arkansas homered in the second, third and fourth to build a 6-0 lead. Utermark briefly cut into it in the sixth before the Razorbacks answered with five runs in the bottom half. Fawley added a solo homer in the seventh, but Arkansas walked it off with a run‑scoring double to close the night. Ole Miss will try to reset the series on Saturday.

Starting Pitchers

RHP Cade Townsend vs. LHP Cole Gibler

  • Townsend: 4-1, 2.33 ERA, .97 WHIP, 46.1 IP, 33 H, 15 R, 12 ER, 12 BB, 68 SO, .192 Opp. BA
  • Gibler: 4-1, 2.91 ERA, 43.1 IP, 32 H, 16 R, 14 ER, 18 BB, 37 SO, .203 Opp. BA

Ole Miss Batting Lineup

  1. Dom Decker, 2B
  2. Tristan Bissetta, RF
  3. Judd Utermark, 3B
  4. Will Furniss, 1B
  5. Hayden Federico, CF
  6. Collin Reuter, DH
  7. Austin Fawley, C
  8. Owen Paino, SS
  9. Topher Jones, LF

Arkansas Batting Lineup

  1. TBA

Weather Forecast

Friday’s stormy weather has cleared across the south, offering teams near-ideal weather conditions in Saturday’s slate of games. The National Weather Service forecast for Fayetteville is “Sunny, with a high near 66. Northwest wind 5 to 10 mph,” during the day. At night expect temperatures to drop into the 40s.

How to Watch: No. 17 Ole Miss at No. 22 Arkansas

Student-Athlete Availability Report

Ole Miss

Out

  • P #17 Marko Sipila
  • P #29 Grayson Gibson

Arkansas

Out

  • IF #18 Reese Robinett
  • P #44 Carson Wiggins

The Opponent: No. 22 Arkansas

Arkansas sits pretty much in the middle of the SEC in most categories. Nothing jumps off the page, but they do a couple of things well.

They’re third in the league with 23 sacrifice flies, and they’ve already thrown five shutouts, which ranks 11th nationally. A lot of that comes from a solid strikeout‑to‑walk ratio of 2.92.

That’s good for 14th in the country, though only eighth in the SEC, which tells you what kind of league this is.

Hunter Dietz and Cole Gibler get the ball Friday and Saturday. Gibler has the best ERA on the staff at 2.91, but Dietz is the headliner. He leads the SEC with 92 strikeouts and sits sixth in the country. Arkansas also has Colin Fisher, a former SEC Pitcher of the Week who’s already thrown a complete game this season.

Offensively, Camden Kozeal and Ryder Helfrick carry most of the load. They’re the only two players who have started at least 45 games.

Helfrick leads the team with 14 home runs, Kozeal has 12, and Kozeal also leads the Razorbacks with 50 RBI. Carter Rutenbar owns the top batting average at .330, and Damian Ruiz isn’t far behind at .310.

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