Ole Miss catcher Austin Fawley celebrates a home run against No. 22 Arkansas. | Ole Miss Athletics
Ole Miss catcher Austin Fawley celebrates a home run against No. 22 Arkansas. | Ole Miss Athletics

How To Watch Ole Miss Baseball In Road Series Finale Against Arkansas

BY Taylor Hodges

After getting punched around Friday night, Ole Miss answered with one of its most complete performances of the season, rolling past Arkansas 9-3 to force a rubber match.

With both teams sitting at 12-11 in the SEC, Sunday’s series finale carries real weight for post-season positioning down the stretch.

Game One Recap

Ole Miss answered Friday’s loss with one of its cleaner offensive days of the season, rolling to a 9-3 win over No. 22 Arkansas to even the series.

The Rebels piled up 16 hits, jumped ahead with a five-run first inning, and never really let go of the momentum.

Collin Reuter delivered the early punch with his first career grand slam, part of a 3-for-5, five RBI afternoon. Austin Fawley added two solo home runs and finished with three hits, while Hayden Federico matched him with a 3-for-5 line that included a run-scoring double.

Cade Townsend gave Ole Miss exactly what it needed on the mound, holding Arkansas to two hits through five shutout innings before a two-run homer in the sixth ended his day. He still left with the lead and the win after 5.2 innings.

Will Furniss added a two-run shot in the seventh, and the Rebels tacked on two more in the ninth with RBI swings from Federico and Reuter. Walker Hooks closed it out with a clean ninth, setting up a Sunday rubber match on SEC Network at 2 p.m.

Starting Pitchers

RHP Taylor Rabe vs. RHP Gabe Gaeckle

  • Rabe: 3-3, 4.24 ERA, 1.09 WHIP, 40.1 IP, 39 H, 19 R, 19 ER, 5 BB, 47 SO, .250 Opp. BA
  • Gaeckle: 5-3, 4.34 ERA, 51.1 IP, 47 H, 31 R, 26 ER, 14 BB, 52 SO, .240 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. Owen Paino, SS
  8. Austin Fawley, C
  9. Cannon Goldin, LF

Arkansas Batting Lineup

  1. TBA

Weather Forecast

Saturday’s windy weather conditions helped Ole miss hit four home runs in a 9-3 win, but that help won’t be around in Sunday’s series finale. From the National Weather Service, Sunday should be “sunny, with a high near 78. Southwest wind 10 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph.” That’s a strong wind, but blowing in a different direction from yesterday’s game.

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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