By Sinderella
South Carolina opens SEC conference play by going to Oxford, Mississippi to play Ole Miss who holds a 13-5 record. Ole Miss opened the season struggling with losses to Hawaii, Arkansas State, High Point, and Iowa. After splitting their opening four game series to Hawaii and consecutive losses to Arkansas State and High Point, Ole Miss started to turn things around by going 11-1 with a loss to Iowa where both bullpens had almost no chance to get an out without giving up a run.
Looking at the stats overall, offensively and defensively, Ole Miss and South Carolina are scary similar. Their batting averages are .279 for Ole Miss and .278 for South Carolina. Fielding percentage is exactly the same at .971. South Carolina is #1 in the country in walks while Ole Miss is #3. The similarities don't end there and I urge you to look up their stats as it's insane how similar they are.
The one big difference is pitching. South Carolina has the huge advantage in the pitching department based on the stats. South Carolina is top 3 in the country in many important pitching stats while Ole Miss hasn't been very good, especially the bullpen. Many believed that the starting rotation had a chance to be better than what they are, but they are proving to be what they are and that's decent at best.
Ole Miss has a quartet of great hitters in Ethan Lege, Andrew Fischer, Jackson Ross, and Ethan Groff. When these four are hitting they have the offense for Ole Miss moving and grooving. When those four are not hitting Ole Miss has little chance to win the game. They need someone to step up for them if they want a chance to succeed in the SEC this season. I think South Carolina's pitching is going to be the difference in this series as they get the 3-0 sweep and move to 17-3 on the season.
(All pictures courtesy of @Ole MissBSB on X)
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