Ole Miss Baseball Hosts No. 24 LSU at Swayze Field
Ole Miss baseball will host LSU this weekend at Swayze Field in Oxford, Mississippi. The series begins Friday at 6:30 p.m., with games scheduled for Saturday at 4 p.m. and Sunday at 1:30 p.m., according to the university.
The Rebels enter the series after defeating Alcorn State 11-1 in midweek play, drawing 18 walks—one shy of the program record. Freshmen Grayson Gibson, Noah Allen, and Leo Odom combined for 14 strikeouts and no walks in that game.
Ole Miss took two of three games against No. 21 Florida last weekend, winning the first and third games. It marked their first road series win over a ranked opponent since May 2022, when they swept LSU in Baton Rouge. Judd Utermark hit a two-RBI, game-tying home run in the ninth inning of the series finale, earning his 42nd career home run and moving into third place in Ole Miss history. Utermark is on a 22-game on-base streak dating back to March 3.
Utermark and Tristan Bissetta have combined for 27 of Ole Miss’s 52 home runs this season. Cade Townsend recorded his first career quality start Saturday, allowing just one run over six innings against Florida. Hayden Federico hit .545 over four games last week, with two RBIs. Walker Hooks earned a save and a win in the series, allowing just two hits over 4.1 innings.
The Ole Miss pitching staff has struck out 390 batters this season, second in the SEC and fifth nationally, with a 3.70 ERA. Hunter Elliott leads the team with 60 strikeouts, ranking sixth in the SEC. The team will send Hunter Elliott, Cade Townsend, and Taylor Rabe to the mound in the series, facing LSU’s Casan Evans, William Schmidt, and Grant Fontenot.
LSU enters the weekend with a 22-12 record overall and a 6-6 conference mark. Under head coach Jay Johnson, the Tigers have been nationally prominent, with two College World Series titles in the past three years. They started the season 8-0 but hit a rough patch in early March, losing several games. LSU’s top hitters include Derek Curiel, Jake Brown, and Cade Arrambide, with Arrambide recently hitting four home runs in a game against Tennessee.
The series coverage will be streamed on SEC Network+ with Richard Cross and Keith Kessinger calling the games. Fans can also listen via the Ole Miss Radio Network, with David Kellum and Brad Henderson announcing.
Source: Original Article
