Ole Miss pitcher Cade Townsend waves to the crowd during Sunday's game against Missouri State. | Dylan Cohron/HottyToddy.com
Ole Miss pitcher Cade Townsend waves to the crowd during Sunday's game against Missouri State. | Dylan Cohron/HottyToddy.com

Ole Miss Faces Rotation Questions Entering Kentucky Series

BY Taylor Hodges

Ole Miss baseball fans now have a real reason to check the Student-Athlete Availability Reports before this weekend’s SEC series against No. 15 Kentucky.

RHP Cade Townsend’s status is the main concern for the Rebels ahead of this weekend’s series after exiting his last start against No. 2 Texas after just one inning.

Ole Miss coach Mike Bianco said after Tuesday’s win against Austin Peay that Townsend didn’t suffer a major injury, but his availability was up in the air.

“We tried to say it’s day-to-day, and we don’t really want to get ahead of ourselves,” Ole Miss coach Mike Bianco said after Tuesday’s 9-5 win against Austin Peay. “I know you’ve got to ask the questions, but we don’t know the answers. All we can answer is he threw today, felt no pain and felt good. We’ll continue to progress from there.

“That was great news. I think we were all nervous. To get a clean MRI did wonders, not just for him, but for us. You could see him bouncing around the locker room today.  He’s excited to get back out there. When that’s going to be, I’m not sure.

“We’ll leave it up to Joel Mangrum and Josh Porter each day as we lead up to it. To this point we don’t know what his availability will be, but he felt really good today.”

Two days later we still don’t know, but that’s to be expected. The Rebels listed Townsend as questionable in the initial availability report for the weekend series. Even if Townsend is fully healthy, keeping his status a mystery is a competitive advantage against Kentucky.

The Rebels also didn’t announce a starting pitcher for the second game of the series, which is normally when Townsend starts. Lefties Hunter Elliott and Wil Libbert will start their normal games Thursday and Saturday. If Townsend can’t pitch Friday, the Rebels will have options.

Owen Kelly has started the most games outside of the three weekend starters, but he just started Tuesday’s game against Austin Peay. He didn’t stay in the game long, throwing 29 pitches in two innings of work.

Kelly is an option. Another option is Taylor Rabe, who has usually come into games after Townsend this season. He did start for Ole Miss against then-No. 7 Southern Miss and pitched very well. He didn’t allow any base runners in 2.2 innings and one strikeout. His last outing was also last Friday against Texas, so he’ll be well-rested should the Rebels need a new game two starter.

Kentucky has announced its starting pitchers for the weekend series. You can see who the Wildcats will start below, as well as notable relief pitchers for both teams.

Ole Miss Starting Pitchers

Game 1: Hunter Elliott, LHP

  • Season Stats: 2-0, 4.38 ERA, 1.42 WHIP, 24.2 IP, 17 H, 13 R, 12 ER, 18 BB, 38 K, 4 2B, 5 HR, .198 Opp. BA, 1 WP, 7 HBP

Game 2: TBA

Game 3: Wil Libbert, LHP

  • Season Stats: 2-2, 5.96 ERA, 1.41 WHIP, 22.2 IP, 24 H, 16 R, 15 ER, 8 BB, 27 K, 2 2B, 4 HR, .286 Opp. BA, 2 HBP, 1 BK

Notable Relief Pitchers

  • Landon Koenig, RHP: 1-0, 0.90 ERA, 1.30 WHIP, 2 SV, 10 IP, 12 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 16 K, 3 2B, .293 Opp. BA
  • Landon Waters, RHP: 0-1, 0.00 ERA, 1.09 WHIP, 1 SV, 7.1 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 5 BB, 11 K, 1 2B, .120 Opp. BA, 2 WP
  • Owen Kelly, RHP: 1-0, 3.68 ERA, 1.57 WHIP, 14.2 IP, 17 H, 11 R, 6 ER, 6 BB, 12 K, 1 3B, 1 HR, .288 Opp. BA, 2 HBP
  • Taylor Rabe, RHP: 3-0, 2.35 ERA, 0.85 WHIP, 1 SV, 15.1 IP, 12 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 19 K, 1 2B, 1 HR, .219 Opp. BA
  • Hudson Calhoun, RHP: 1-0, 3.86 ERA, 1.16 WHIP, 16.1 IP, 13 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 6 BB, 26 K, 2 2B, 2 HR, .224 Opp. BA

Kentucky Starting Pitchers

Game 1: Ben Cleaver, LHP

  • Season Stats: 1-0, 1.84 ERA, 1.55 wHIP, 14.2 IP, 12 H, 5 R, 3 ER, 10 BB, 20 K, 4 2B, .222 Opp. BA, 6 HBP

Game 2: Jaxon Jelkin, RHP

  • Season Stats: 4-0, 3.38 ERA, 0.99 WHIP, 26.2 IP, 21 H, 11 R, 10 ER, 5 BB, 31 K, 2 2B, 4 HR, .216 Opp. BA, 1 HBP

Game 3: Nate Harris, RHP

  • Season Stats: 3-1, 4.03 ERA, 0.99 WHIP, 22.1 IP, 13 H, 10 R, 10 ER, 9 BB, 26 K, 3 2B, .171 Opp. BA, 6 HBP

Notable Relief Pitchers

  • Jack Bennett, RHP: 1-0, 5 SV, 0.71 ERA, 1.07 WHIP, 12.2 IP, 12 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 13 K, 2 2B, .235 Opp. BA
  • Burkley Bounds, RHP: 2-0, 1 SV, 4.05 ERA, 1.15 WHIP, 13.1 IP, 9 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 6 BB, 20 K, 1 2B, .191 Opp. BA, 2 WP, 1 HBP
  • Jackson Soucie, LHP: 0-0, 1 SV, 2.84 ERA, 1.31 WHIP, 6.1 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, 2 2B, .250 Opp. BA, 1 WP, 1 HBP
  • Nile Adcock, RHP: 1-1, 1 SV, 3.24 ERA, 1.36 WHIP, 8.1 IP, 9 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 13 K, 1 2B, .273 Opp. BA, 2 WP
  • Connor Mattison, RHP: 2-0, 1.29 ERA, 1.07 WHIP, 14 IP, 9 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 6 BB, 16 K, 1 2B, 1 3B, .191 Opp. BA, 1 WP, 3 HBP

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