Ole Miss and Long Beach opener postponed until Saturday

LONG BEACH | Ole Miss couldn't escape the rain -- even in Southern California.

Rain throughout Friday in the Long Beach area persisted into the night, causing a postponement of the series opener between the No. 9 Rebels (8-0) and host Dirtbags (3-6).

The first game Saturday begins at the regularly scheduled 2 p.m. (PT) start time, and the second game starts 45 minutes after the completion of the first game.

The forecast for the Long Beach area is a 70 percent chance of rain Saturday.

Long Beach players rolled out the tarp in a spitting rain about 5 p.m. local time, but the mist turned into a drizzle, and officials made the call to wait until Saturday at 8:25 p.m. after originally calling for a 7:15 (PT) p.m. first pitch.

Double digit scouts had gathered in the Blair Field bleachers to see an intriguing mound matchup between Ole Miss ace Ryan Rolison and Long Beach sophomore lefty Zak Baayoun.

Rolison is third nationally and first in the SEC in strikeouts per nine innings and has allowed only one earned run in 10 innings. Baayoun is 2-0 with a win over top-10 TCU and has a 1.26 ERA in 14.1 innings.

The batting averages against for Rolison and Baayoun are .118 and .200, respectively.