Tonight at 6:00 p.m., our beloved Rebels will take on Arkansas State for the second time this season. In the first meeting, the Rebels won 11-5 in Oxford. Tonight, the Rebels should do just as well...
Historically, the Rebels lead the series 69-22 which is about the same record as the Rebel football team has against Cow College in the Egg Bowl. In other words, complete domination. However, just like Cow College, Arkansas State finds a way to sneak up on us once every couple of games. Last year while ranked number 2, we fell to them in Oxford in a midweek game. I doubt that happens this time.
The Red Wolves will start freshman Jacob Lee, and this is his first start of the season. He has pitched on three different occasions for a total of 6.1 innings. He has allowed 6 runs and 9 hits in that time span.
I am unable to find a starter for Ole Miss. I have searched up and down on the Ole Miss Sports website, and I have not seen a release. My guess would be Brett Bukvich or Nathan Baker.
You can find a nice preview of tonight's game here.
Random Numbers:
I was browsing 2009 statistics on SECsports.com, and here is how the Rebels fare against the rest of the SEC:
Offense:
4th in batting average at .325
7th in Slugging Percentage at .488
6th in runs scored at 134
8th in hits at 170
9th in HR at 15 (Auburn leads this category with 39)
12th in strikeouts with 79 (meaning we strike out the least)
Defense:
7th in ERA at 4.03 (Thanks Aaron Barrett)
9th in fielding percentage at .962
12th in innings pitched at 129.2 (pitched the least amount of innings)
8th in opponent strike outs at 138
2nd in runs allowed at 77
It will be interesting to watch these numbers change throughout the season.