Notes: Rebels face major road test with series at Texas A&M

OXFORD | Ole Miss will see, at least statistically, a version of itself dressed in maroon this weekend in College Station.

The No. 5 Rebels (20-2, 2-1) go on the road for the first time in SEC play, visiting Texas A&M for a Thursday-Saturday series starting at 6 p.m. the first two days and 2 p.m. for the finale. The Aggies (18-4, 1-2) beat Rice in the midweek after losing two of three to Auburn to start conference play.

Ole Miss, meanwhile, back-ended a series win at home from Tennessee and is the only team in the nation to reach the 20-win mark so far this season.

The Rebels and No. 12 (D1Baseball) Aggies are 1-2, respectively, in the SEC pitching rankings and have very little separating them offensively either.

“They are very similar to us statistically where they do a lot of things well,” Mike Bianco said. “They pitch it really, really well and three three starters are outstanding. Offensively they put runs on in bunches and when you face that it’s always a big challenge for you. We’re going on the road to probably the first tough environment for us. It’s going to be a good crowed and top 10 matchup.”

Ole Miss entered the week with an SEC-best 2.11 ERA, and Texas A&M is at 2.24, though the Rebels have 30 more strikeouts and eight fewer walks in the same number of games. Ole Miss has allowed 12 more extra base hits.

In the hitting department, the two teams are separated by five points in batting average (.303 to .298), 19 points in slugging (.487 to .468) and 15 points in on-base (.393 to .378) with Ole Miss holding the slight edge in all three categories.

Ole Miss is staying with its rotation of left-hander Ryan Rolison (3-2, 3.27) in the opener and right-handers Brady Feigl (5-0, 1.10) and James McArthur (3-0, 1.35) in the next two games. Texas A&M counters with right-hander Stephen Kolek (3-2, 1.50) against Rolison, lefty John Doxakis (3-0, 1.65) on Friday and right-hander Mitchell Kilkenny (5-0, 1.32) on Saturday.

The two teams have Long Beach State as a common opponent. The Rebels took two of three from the Dirtbags in California, and the following weekend TAMU swept Long Beach by a combined scored of 27-3 in College Station.

Ole Miss is 3-3 in games in College Station since Texas A&M joined the SEC. The Rebels clinched the SEC West with a series win in 2014 and lost two of three in 2016.

The stat line is impressive and by far the most important thing, but Ole Miss closer Dallas Woolfolk isn't lighting up the radar gun so far this season.

He hadn't allowed an earned run in 7.2 innings before a solo home run for New Orleans on Tuesday -- a 9-4 Ole Miss win. Woolfolk didn't pitch in the series against Tennessee and has 10 strikeouts and four walks in now 8.2 innings.

He's also 6-for-6 in save opportunities.

The junior's fastball has been consistently around 91 MPH this season with a few bumps north of that. With Team USA last summer and during the 2017 season the fastball routinely registered in the mid 90s.

The Swayze Field scoreboard radar gun said the pitch that was hit for a home run was 89 MPH.

I asked Bianco on Tuesday following the win over UNO if he expects Woolfolk's velocity to inch up as the season goes along.

"Today we just needed to throw him just because you didn't want it to be two weeks before he threw," Bianco said. "I don't like throwing him in the big lead and that's why. The adrenaline isn't running through his body and's disappointing. He goes out there and at least gets some work and throws the ball in the strike zone and sees live hitters instead of doing a bullpen.

"We could have done that but wanted to get him back out there. With those guys if you save them too much, for the perfect time all the time, they don't get enough work in. I think as the weather changes and he gets more consistent, I think his outings have been too inconsistent and that hasn't helped him. Part of that is my fault."