The Rebels find themselves with a big bounce-back opportunity tonight in Pearl, the first of their two annual trips this season. The Rebels are coming off their first losing week of the season and will look to showcase their fight. This will be the second matchup between Ole Miss and Southern Miss this season. The Rebels got the better of the Golden Eagles for the first time in Oxford in a slugfest, 15-8.
The Rebels come into this one 15-4, and Southern Miss comes in at 14-6 and ranked number 19th in the country.
The Rebels will again experiment with the midweek starter, giving the ball to highly touted freshman Cade Townsend for the start. I have been really high on Cade Townsend coming into the season, as I think he will end up being a future first-round pick. He was excellent in the fall and into the spring and seemed prime for a big role this season.
Things got off to a shaky start for the freshman. He has flashed some good stuff in his few appearances this season, but he has struggled with command. That was not something that seemed to be a concern throughout the preseason. Now, the fact that they trust him in this spot seems to indicate that he might have made the necessary tweaks with pitching coach Joel Mangrum in order to get him back on track.
This is a big moment for Townsend. As we have mentioned, the Rebels bullpen lacks a few pieces. If you can get a pitcher with the pure stuff of Townsend firing on all cylinders, he could turn into a lethal option in the back end of the bullpen for this team, and it is a development they could really use.
The Golden Eagles will turn to Matt Adams for the start. The experienced senior has been solid for Souther Miss this season, with an ERA slightly over 3 in his 20.2 innings thrown. He is coming off the best outing of his career last Tuesday, in which he threw 6.2 innings, only allowing one run on four hits. The Rebels will look to fare better against Adams tonight.
The games are available to stream on ESPN+, but they will also be available to listen to on the Ole Miss Radio Network and the Ole Miss App. The first pitch is at 6 PM Central time.
The lone line on this one has the Rebels slightly favored, coming in at -145 on the money line, with the Golden Eagles at +110.