Mississippi State is heading to Swayze Field

Ole Miss is looking to change their season around this weekend, a statement fans have been saying for weeks, as in-state rival Mississippi State heads to Swayze Field.

The Rebels have been downright horrific since SEC play began. They are currently 5-10 in the SEC, and are on track to have one of the worst seasons in Mike Bianco era history. They are currently on a three game losing streak, following an embarrassing loss to SEMO on Tuesday. SEMO looked unstoppable with their offense scoring 13 runs on the Ole Miss pitching staff. In the beginning of the season, Ole Miss was picked to win the SEC, and now it’s looking like they are not going to be in a regional at the end of the year.

Beating State is crucial for a lot of different reasons. For one, the Bulldogs and the Rebs are both neck and neck for last place in the SEC West. Mississippi State is doing a little better than Ole Miss at this point, sitting at 6-9 in conference play.

These next four games could be a shift in momentum for Ole Miss and possibly be the matchup that they need. There needs to be some fire lit under the Rebs, and a sell out crowd against their rival might be the thing to do it.

The offense needs to clock in and that can be done with the help of captain Tim Elko. This past weekend, Elko was hitting at .429 against the South Carolina Gamecocks and has 15 home runs this season, sitting at second in the SEC.

Dylan Delucia is going to be the starter on the mound for the series opener. Delucia is sitting at 2-0 with a 5.03 ERA and 33 strikeouts.

The Rebs have lost six consecutive series in Oxford to the Bulldogs and are looking to get their first series win over Mississippi State since 2015.

The first pitch will be thrown out tonight at 6 p.m. C.T. by former Rebel and famous country singer Brett Young. The following games will start at 6:30 p.m. on Friday and 3:30 p.m. on Saturday.