Both Ole Miss and Southern Miss boosted their postseason resumes during conference play over the weekend, while Mississippi State went the wrong direction and is now in serious jeopardy of not making a regional.
Starting in Oxford, the town was popping as Double Decker guaranteed another trio of sellouts at Swayze Field. The No. 23 Rebels (31-13, 12-9 SEC) welcomed No. 9 Vanderbilt (31-13, 12-9) and gladly took two of three from the Commodores.
Ace Hunter Elliott went five strong and allowed just one run to open the door for Hayden Federico, Luke Hill, and Judd Utermark to launch long balls on the way to an 8-3 win in game one. Game two was also all Rebels as Riley Maddox pitched a career-high seven innings with just one run allowed. Ryan Moerman crushed a three-run bomb to highlight the 7-1 victory.
Vanderbilt avoided the sweep with a 13-0 run-rule win on Sunday.
The series put Ole Miss above the 30-win mark for the 22nd time under head coach Mike Bianco. Big swings this week against Mississippi State and Vanderbilt boosted the Rebels’ RPI – a quantity used to rank teams based on wins, losses, and strength of schedule – from No. 22 on Monday to No. 17 on Sunday, according to RPI Update.
Speaking of RPI, No. 22 Southern Miss (31-13, 15-6 Sun Belt) received a major boost with a road sweep of Appalachian State (21-22, 11-10). The Golden Eagles moved up to No. 31 in the RPI, paving the way to become one of 33 teams to receive at-large bids to next month’s NCAA Tournament.
Ace JB Middleton got the weekend started with a complete-game one-run effort as all nine Golden Eagle batters registered a hit in a 10-1 Friday night win. Games two and three were also wrapped in black and gold as Southern Miss won 7-3 on Saturday and 7-6 on Sunday.
Kentucky transfer Ben Higdon had an impressive stretch at the plate for Southern Miss, going 9-for-15 with five doubles.
Mississippi State (25-19, 7-14 SEC) traveled to No. 11 Auburn (30-14, 11-10) with hopes of finding a much-needed series win in conference play. The Bulldogs had a tying run in scoring position in the top of the ninth but failed to push anything across the plate, dropping the Friday contest 6-5. A Saturday bounce-back saw Chris Lemonis and company get a 12-7 win behind Ace Reese and Hunter Hines home runs.
Sunday’s rubber match was all Auburn as the Tigers jumped out to a six-run lead after two innings and never let go, winning 14-8.
Next up
Ole Miss, Southern Miss, and Mississippi State will all get a nonconference breather on Tuesday. The Rebels host Austin Peay with a 6:30 p.m. first pitch. Southern Miss welcomes New Orleans in Hattiesburg beginning at 6 p.m. Mississippi State and Memphis get underway at 6 p.m. in Starkville. The Bulldogs beat the Tigers on their home turf 5-3 on April 1.
