Ole Miss looks to have a better weekend against the Wildcats

After a subpar start to SEC play, the No. 10 Rebels will look to find their rhythm against Kentucky in a three games series in Lexington after getting swept at home by No. 1 Tennessee last weekend. 

This will be the third SEC team that Ole Miss faces in as many weeks, after winning the first series against Auburn 2-1 and falling to the Vols 0-3. The Rebs are currently sitting at 17-7 overall and 2-4 in conference play. 

There has been a lot of discussion over the disastrous weekend against Tennessee and whether or not this truly is a championship team. There was a lot of noise prior to the season that this would finally be the year that head coach Mike Bianco took the Rebs to Omaha and won. Unfortunately, Ole Miss was unable to show up and showcase that they deserved that No. 1 spot. It’s going to be a long way back up to the top.

Ole Miss got right back to work after their disappointing showing, beating North Alabama at Swayze Field on Tuesday night. The Rebs showed up on offense scoring 20 runs in only seven innings. The day was highlighted by the five home runs hit and a nine run fourth inning, bringing the hope back into Rebel hearts everywhere. 

Kentucky has a similar record with an overall 17-9 and a 2-4 record in the SEC. The Wildcats have faced both Arkansas and Georgia. They were swept by Arkansas and managed to walk away with a win over Georgia. Kentucky is coming off of a midweek 3-6 loss to Eastern Kentucky University at home, marking it their fourth midweek loss of the season. They will be looking to earn their 2,000th all-time win as a program against the Rebels. The Wildcat to watch this weekend is junior infielder Chase Estep who has managed to reach base safely in 25 of his 26 games this season. 

Bianco mentioned following the game against North Alabama that the pitching for this weekend is still to be determined. He did allude that there would be a change to the pitching rotation after it failed this past weekend. The offense needs to stay hot in order to see the desired results. Justin Bench and Calvin Harris in particular will continue to lead the team with a .353 and .571 batting average. 

Ole Miss will take on the Wildcats at Kentucky Proud Park on April 1-3 with the first pitch on Friday at 5:30 p.m. CDT.