First pitch at the Auburn Super Regional is a little more than 24 hours away, but neither Auburn or Ole Miss have announced their starting pitchers for the best-of-three series.
Official announcements aren’t really needed for either the Rebels or Tigers. Who will step onto the mound for both teams is about as easy to predict as saying the sun will rise in the morning.
Both Ole Miss and Auburn have been consistent with their weekend starters this season. Yes, both have made changes to their starting rotations, but those changes were came almost two months ago. Since then, the rotations have remained the same.
If there’s any drama its what order will Ole Miss send out its starters.
The last two weekends (at Alabama and NCAA Regionals) has seen Taylor Rabe start the second game of the weekend and Cade Townsend handled the finale. Townsend spent most of the season as the No. 2 starter behind Hunter Elliott who has started the first game of every series except one (Florida).
Auburn has been more flexible with the start of its rotation. Jake Marciano has been the No. 1 starter for Auburn for most of the season. Andreas Alvarez did move into that role for six consecutive weeks, but Marciano was the game one starter in the final two regular season series against Mississippi State, Georgia and the opening game of the NCAA Regional against Milwaukee.
At this point in the season, when the games matter the most, don’t expect any surprises when the rotations are announced either Thursday or Friday. But here’s who we’re expecting to see start for Ole Miss and Auburn each day of the super regional.
Projected Starting Pitcher Rotation
Ole Miss
Friday
Hunter Elliott: 5-3, 5.21 ERA, 1.46 WHIP, 76 IP, 73 H, 47 R, 44 ER, 38 BB, 100 SO, .253 Opp. BA, 5 WP, 14 HBP
Saturday
Taylor Rabe: 5-3, 3.84 ERA, 1.03 WHIP, 63.1 IP, 55 H, 27 R, 27 ER, 10 BB, 90 SO, .229 Opp. BA, 2 WP, 6 HBP
Sunday (if needed)
Cade Townsend: 5-3, 3.94 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, 64 IP, 55 H, 33 R, 29 ER, 22 BB, 88 SO, .223 Opp. BA, 5 WP, 4 HBP
Auburn
Friday
Andreas Alvarez: 10-3, 3.52 ERA, 1.28 WHIP, 79.1 IP, 71 H, 41 R, 31 ER, 30 BB, 103 SO, .237 Opp. BA, 9 WP, 5 HBP
Saturday
Jake Marciano: 5-6, 3.32 ERA, 1.08 WHIP, 86.2 IP, 76 H, 37 R, 32 ER, 17 BB, 108 SO, .234 Opp. BA, 2 WP, 10 HBP
Sunday (if needed)
Alex Petrovic: 10-2, 3.19 ERA, 1.02 WHIP, 87.1 IP, 67 H, 33 R, 31 ER, 22 BB, 87 SO, .209 Opp. BA, 2 WP, 6 HBP
Bullpen Arms
Ole Miss
- Hudson Calhoun: 4-3, 3 SV, 3.71 ERA, 1.33 WHIP, 43.2 IP, 35 H, 21 R, 18 ER, 23 BB, 63 SO, .217 Opp. BA, 2 WP, 4 HBP
- Walker Hooks: 3-1, 7 SV, 2.22 ERA, .85 WHIP, 52.2 IP, 34 H, 17 R, 13 ER, 11 BB, 58 SO, .188 Opp. BA, 1 WP, 2 HBP
- Wil Libbert: 2-2, 6.32 ERA, 1.64 WHIP, 47 IP, 55 H, 35 R, 33 ER, 22 BB, 51 SO, .301 Opp. BA, 1 WP, 3 HBP
- JP Robertson: 4-1, 1 SV, 4.15 ERA, 1.50 WHIP, 34.2 IP, 33 H, 18 R, 16 ER, 19 BB, 48 SO, .252 Opp. BA, 1 WP, 2 HBP
- Landon Waters: 0-1, 2 SV, 3.13 ERA, 1.39 WHIP, 23 IP, 21 H, 10 R, 8 ER, 11 BB, 23 SO, .239 Opp. BA, 3 WP
Auburn
- Garrett Brewer: 1-2, 3 SV, 5.40 ERA, 1.60 WHIP, 18.1 IP, 20 H, 13 R, 11 ER, 9 BB, 26 SO, .270 Opp. BA, 6 WP, 1 HBP
- LJ Cormier: 2-0, 2 SV, 2.49 ERA, .96 WHIP, 47 IP, 33 H, 15 R, 13 ER, 12 BB, 59 SO, .191 Opp. BA, 6 WP, 7 HBP
- Ryan Hetzler: 4-2, 3 SV, 2.48 ERA, 1.02 WHIP, 36.1 IP, 32 H, 12 R, 10 ER, 5 BB, 38 SO, .239 Opp. BA, 1 HBP
- Jackson Sanders: 5-1, 4 SV, 2.63 ERA, 1.12 WHIP, 68.1 IP, 52 H, 24 R, 20 ER, 24 BB, 93 SO, .210 Opp. BA, 4 WP, 6 HBP
Team Comparison
| Ole Miss | STAT | Auburn |
|---|---|---|
| 39-21 | Overall Record | 42-20 |
| 15-15 | Conference Record | 17-13 |
| 13 | RPI | 5 |
| 4 | Strength of Schedule | 1 |
| BATTING | ||
| .265 | Batting Average | .297 |
| .854 | OPS | .874 |
| 411 | Runs | 437 |
| 519 | Hits | 612 |
| 86 | Doubles | 106 |
| 1 | Triples | 5 |
| 103 | Home Runs | 89 |
| 916 | Total Bases | 995 |
| .468 | Slugging % | .482 |
| 327 | Walks | 266 |
| 75 | Hit By Pitch | 75 |
| 635 | Strikeouts | 474 |
| .386 | On-Base % | .392 |
| 49 | Stolen Bases | 82 |
| PITCHING | ||
| 4.40 | ERA | 3.62 |
| 1.32 | WHIP | 1.19 |
| 672 | Strikeouts | 623 |
| 201 | Walks Allowed | 166 |
| 491 | Hits Allowed | 463 |
| .246 | Opp. Batting Average | .233 |
| 81 | HR Allowed | 60 |
| 524 | Innings Pitched | 530 |
Weather Forecast
It’s looking like Ole Miss and Auburn will have nearly ideal weather conditions for the first two games of the weekend’s super regional. There’s no rain or storms in the National Weather Service forecast for Friday and Saturday in Auburn. Temperatures are expected to be in the mid 80s during the day and in the 60s at night. Wind shouldn’t be too impactful with expectations of east, southeast winds around 5-10 miles per hour.
All of that changes Sunday should the Rebels and Tigers need a decisive game three. The forecast for Sunday has “a chance of showers, with thunderstorms also possible after 1pm. Partly sunny, with a high near 85. Chance of precipitation is 40%.” A start time for Sunday hasn’t been announced, but the weather forecast should be considered when making that decision.
How to Watch: Auburn Super Regional
- Who: Ole Miss Rebels (39-21) at Auburn Tigers (42-20)
- When: 7 p.m. Friday; 4 p.m. Saturday; TBD Sunday
- Where: Plainsman Park, Auburn, Ala.
- TV: ESPN2 (Friday), ESPN (Saturday), TBD (Sunday)
- Radio: Live Radio
- Stats: Live Stats
- Series History: Ole Miss leads the all-time series 102-94
- Last Meeting: Ole Miss won 2025 weekend series 2-1 (9-2, 15-11, 8-13)
- Last time out, Rebels: def. Arizona State, 5-4 (10 innings)
- Last time out, Tigers: def. Milwaukee, 8-3
