I know we have a busy weekend of hoops action at Trask Coliseum, but let's not forget an incredibly important series for our Diamond Hawks down in Oxford, MS in Week 2 of the baseball season!



# 17 Ole Miss Rebels

2016 Record: 43-19
2016 SEC Record: 18-12 (4th, West Division)
2016 RPI: 10
2016 Finish: 0-2 at Oxford, MS Regional
2017 Record: 4-0 (3 W vs. ECU, W vs. Arkansas State)

Seems to me the Rebels are pissed off. And rightly so. After going 0-2 at their own Regional in 2016, I'd be pissed off too. And Ole Miss is certainly playing that way to start the 2017 campaign. After sweeping a ranked ECU team and then blowing out Arkansas State by a 16-4 score in the midweek, they might just be getting started. Now, in the midst of an 8-game homestand, Ole Miss welcomes our Seahawks for a 3-game series starting at Friday at 5 PM EST.

Here's some scary notes about Ole Miss. First off, Kyle Peterson of the SEC Network stated that Ole Miss has the best freshman class in the SEC. Secondly, Ole Miss has already claimed an SEC Player of the Week honoree in sophomore CF Ryan Olenek:

* Ole Miss' Ryan Olenek went 6-for-13 (.462 average), recording a team high in hits and tied with a team-best two doubles to help lead Ole Miss to a sweep over No. 6 East Carolina. He started all three games in center field and recorded at least one hit in each contest.

* Olenek went 3-for-4 with a double to lead the team in a 5-4 season-opening victory.

* Batting leadoff for the first time in his career, Olenek put together a multi-hit game and plated one run in Saturday's 3-2 win. He smacked the game-winning two-run double that capped off a five-run sixth inning in the season finale.

Noting all this, Olenek hasn't even had the best start, statistically on his own team. Freshman catcher Thomas Dillard is hitting 7-12 (.583) thru 4 games. Meanwhile, junior 1B/LF Will Goslan is batting .533 with a HR, 5 RBI and 4 doubles. He's slugging 1.000 thru 15 at-bats. As a team, Ole Miss is hitting .323, slugging .474 with a .414 On Base Percentage. This is a deep hitting team, much like you'd expect out of a quality SEC program.

On the mound, Ole Miss has 5 pitchers who have made appearances out of the bullpen without surrendering a single run. Their starters, meanwhile, have had mixed results. Freshman righty Will Ethridge struck out 10 and walked 2 against Arkansas State on Tuesday in 5 innings of work, but allowed 4 runs (2 earned). Junior lefty David Parkinson lasted 7 innings against ECU and allowed 3 runs on 6 hits. Sophomore righty James McArthur only made it 4.1 innings and had a 4.15 ERA, while another sophomore righty, Brady Feigl was shelled for 5 runs (4 earned) on 9 hits in 5.0 innings. Still, when you have a stellar bullpen, you can afford to have a mixed bag of starting pitching results. And remember that ECU was, of course, a quality opponent.

Ole Miss is a team more than capable of getting to a Super Regional in 2017 and maybe even Omaha, especially if early results are any sign. Our Seahawks, who struggled a bit on the mound last weekend, will need to bring the best we have against this awesome Ole Miss lineup, while getting some runs off their pitching early. Winning 1/3 would be a solid accomplishment. Anything more would be stellar.

One final note: Ole Miss set a record with over 12,000 in attendance on opening day. This will be a great environment for baseball.

Big series. Would be great if we could snag a win

Does anyone know how to stream the games

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using CSNbbs mobile app

Looks like it might be on espn3

ESPN3.COM or Watch ESPN app

Pretty sure you will have to have the SEC Network as part of your cable package in order for your ESPN login to give you access as its labeled SEC Network Plus.

http://uncwsports.com/news/2017/2/22/bas...xford.aspx




Nationally-Ranked Programs Collide This Weekend In Oxford

WILMINGTON, North Carolina – A pair of nationally-ranked programs meet this weekend as UNCW visits Ole Miss for a three-game series beginning on Friday in Oxford, Miss.

Both teams swept their opening weekend action with the Seahawks beating George Mason, VMI and Appalachian State at the Hughes Bros. Challenge while the Rebels knocked off East Carolina in three straight.

UNCW is ranked as high as 23 in the D1Baseball poll while the Rebels check in at 17 in the same poll.

Senior Casey Golden lifted the Seahawks past App. State with a RBI single in the bottom of the ninth to complete a two-run rally. Golden hit an even .500 for the weekend and belted a pair of home runs.

The Seahawks host defending national champion Coastal Carolina on Mar. 1 when it opens a month where they'll play just two road games (Mar. 15 at Coastal / Mar. 31 Charleston).

Same starting pitchers as last weekend: Royalty, Roberson, Beehler.

The mindset has to be winning the series but yes, Hawks really need at least 1 win. You don't want to get swept like ECU was and they are good too, like UNCW is. UNCW is ranked nationally too so they should expect to compete decently you would think. It's time for the program to step up.

The picture is great for the game streaming on espn

Lost game 7-2

When I was running the board, an ECU blowhard used to always write...it's about Arms, Arms, Arms. The way it looks, he may be on to something. UNCW can't continue to walk so many runners period. When you do that against a good team, you get burned. And it's not just Alex here, it's everybody. Work quick, throw strikes and let the D work. It sounds simple, but is key.

The bats have to be better. With UNCW's lineup, there's no excuse. If you have to shorten up to get the ball in play do so with 2 strikes and be aggressive in hitters counts and gap it or better. Yes, Ole Miss is good, but so what, we're talking UNCW baseball here and they should be up to the challenge. UNCW has the lineup to do damage and they need to start come tomorrow. I hope that Roberson steps up and challenges somebody and brings a chip. If they hit it, they hit it, but they need to be on their heels. UNCW shouldn't lay down to anybody period. Hawks need a win to show that they belong and it's time.

UNCW holding Ole Miss to 1 run after 5 innings. Down 1 to 0 heading into the B6. Ole Miss has 7 hits to our 1 and has 7 left on base. Bats gotta start to come alive if we wanna chance to win this one

They have bases loaded with one out in the 6th.

2 to 1 Ole Miss heading into B7. Hawks got out of the jam with only 1 run and got it back t7.

Down 3-1 in the 7th. 1 out, men on 2nd and 3rd. for Ole Miss.

Ole miss only got that 1. Headed into 8th down 2

Feight with a 3 run bomb top of the 8th. as UNCW goes up 4-3!

6 outs to even this at 1-1 in the series.

Let's go!!

Crap. Tied at 4 after a hit off the mound caused a bad throw.