No. 20 Ole Miss baseball faces No. 9 Texas A&M in a crucial home series finale. Both teams are vying for a better position in the postseason rankings.
Jun 2, 2025; Oxford, MS, USA; Mississippi Rebels second base Judd Utermark (27) hits a home run during the fourth inning against the Murray State Racers. Mandatory Credit: Petre Thomas-Imagn Images | Petre Thomas-Imagn Images
Only two regular season weekends remain for No. 20 Ole Miss to make its case for the postseason, and the final home series with No. 9 Texas A&M might be the biggest weekend of the season.
Currently the Rebels (32-17, 12-12 SEC) sit at No. 13 in the RPI rankings, which in theory is a decent spot considering there are 16 regional hosts. The Aggies (36-10, 15-8 SEC) are two spots ahead at No. 11 in the RPI, so it is very much a huge boost for either team to get the series win as TAMU would be getting a road series win against a highly ranked Ole Miss team.
PROJECTED PITCHING MATCHUPS
Friday, May 8, 6:30 p.m. CT
Saturday, May 9, 4 p.m. CT
Sunday, May 10, 5 p.m. CT
Hunter Elliott was disappointing last week in Fayetteville against the Hogs getting chased early in the Friday series opener. His ERA looks more and more concerning with every outing, but in what could be his final start at Swayze Field, will the juices be flowing to shut down the Aggies and get this series started right? Lefty Ethan Darden has been used mostly out of the bullpen this season with a sub three ERA, but he was a starting pitcher at Clemson prior to transferring. It will be a big question as to how long Darden goes in this game if there are runs scored early and if Aggie coaches decide to put this game into a bullpen by committee situation.
Saturday to me is going to be must see college baseball with Cade Townsend and Aiden Sims taking the mound. Sims has delivered three straight quality starts on the road in SEC play against Florida, LSU and Missouri while Townsend is coming off his longest appearance of the season against Arkansas where he led Ole Miss to a win.
The series is crucial for both teams as they aim to improve their postseason rankings, with Ole Miss needing a strong finish to secure a regional host spot.
Ole Miss is ranked No. 13 and Texas A&M is ranked No. 11 in the RPI rankings, making this series significant for both teams.
The series begins on Friday, May 8, at 6:30 p.m. CT.
Ole Miss has a record of 32-17 and 12-12 in the SEC, while Texas A&M has a record of 36-10 and 15-8 in the SEC.
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And while it sounds like a broken record, by far the biggest concern is how Ole Miss finds a way to manufacture runs against an SEC opponent. Only three players in the lineup are batting over .300 in conference play and the team has struck out 506 times in 1581 at bats this season. That equals out to more than 10 strikeouts per nine innings, which is not what anyone wants to see but is being forced to watch every weekend.
I don’t know the answer for Mike Bianco, and while he has tried different lineups, nothing has really consistently stuck other than Owen Paino having some good games at the dish and Austin Fawley’s more recent resurgence as a power hitter. All Bianco can do is to keep giving players at bats and chances to earn their place in the lineup and hope something clicks in my opinion.
Games on Friday and Saturday will be streamed live on SEC Network+ while the Sunday series finale will be broadcast on the SEC Network.