Ole Miss starts strong at Auburn

After dropping a road loss to Southeastern Louisiana mid-week, the Ole Miss Rebels came out guns blazing to open their three game series against Auburn.

The first half of the game was a tight, back-and-forth battle, but the Rebels blew the doors off the place with a six-run inning on the way to a 13-8 victory.

With a leadoff homer by the Rebels, a response by the Tigers, and then follow-ups in the second and third, it had all the hallmarks of a home run derby, but eventually the quality of the Rebels order shone through and they pulled out to a comfortable lead.

The first game of conference play sees the national number one in a strong position to see off any resurgence by a drooping Texas Longhorn side.

The Longhorns have struggled of late, dropping five of their last seven games, but go into conference play with a weekend three game home series against San Antonio’s Incarnate Word Cardinals. The Longhorns desperately need to win all three of those if they are to have any chance at all of keeping their national championship hopes alive.

With number three Arkansas coming in hot off of a midweek sweep of Grambling, and looking to extend their eight game winning streak over the weekend when they meet Kentucky in a three game series at Fayetteville, the top of the polls are loaded. Any slip up by Texas, or indeed Ole Miss, will see a fall that will be difficult to recover from.

With the top ten so tight, it is very easy to slip down the polls, but much harder to climb. Conference play should help to winnow through the standings toward Omaha, but it will require all your wits about you.