OXFORD, Miss. - The Belmont University baseball team goes on the road for the first time in 2021, challenging No. 4 Ole Miss in a three-game series starting on Friday at 6:30 p.m.
This will be the first time since March 19, 2019 where the Bruins will play a top 10 ranked opponent. It will also be Belmont's first true road series against a ranked team since March 3-5, 2017 when they played at No. 17 Georgia Tech and won the final game of the series 11-5.
Ole Miss currently leads the series 2-0, with the Bruins last meeting the Rebels in Oxford on Feb. 27, 2007. The Rebels won a tightly-contested game, 4-2, in the two teams' last outing against each other.
No. 4 Ole Miss is coming off two dominating midweek wins to move to 7-2 on the season. Ole Miss already has three wins over top 10 teams this season, sweeping the State Farm College Baseball Showdown in Arlington, Texas by defeating No. 10 TCU, No. 3 Texas Tech and No. 9 Texas. The Rebels have already hit 10 home runs and have driven in 63 RBIs, collecting 14 doubles to go with 76 hits in the process.
Hayden Dunhurst leads the Rebels with a .345 batting average, with Justin Bench being the main source of power at the plate for Ole Miss. Bench has already driven in 11 RBIs in addition to stealing three bases. Trey LaFleur has already hit two home runs and holds a slugging percentage of .786. The Rebels' pitching staff holds an earned run average of 2.62 and have collected 123 strikeouts.
With Belmont making the trip to Oxford, Miss., some Belmont players are connected to the Ole Miss program. Junior pitcher Korey Bell started his collegiate career at Ole Miss before transferring to Mississippi Delta Community College. Carter Park's father, Mike, played baseball at Ole Miss before going onto a career in the Atlanta Braves' farm system.
In Belmont's last four games against ranked opponents, Belmont has claimed two victories. The Bruins' last victory over a ranked team came on March 21, 2018 against Vanderbilt at the Nashville Sounds' First Horizon Park. The Bruins also won the final game of a three-game series with No. 17 Georgia Tech on March 5, 2017. If the Bruins collect at least one win in the series, it will mark the first victory over a top five ranked team for Belmont Baseball since the 2015 season.
Game Notes
Sophomore pitcher Joshua South earned a pair of weekly honors earlier this week, being named Ohio Valley Conference and Tennessee Sports Writers Association Pitcher of the Week. The weekly accolade from TSWA marks the third consecutive year where a Belmont Baseball player was given the honor. South earned OVC Pitcher of the Week honors for the third time in his career.
The Cookeville, Tenn. native finished week one of the season with 10 strikeouts in seven innings pitched, earning the win against Creighton on Saturday. South now has three consecutive seasons where he has recorded double-digit strikeouts in his first two appearances of the season.
Belmont and No. 4 Ole Miss start game one of the three-game series on Friday at 6:30 p.m. Ole Miss will provide live stats and radio, with all of the games being available on SEC Network+.
