No. 16 Kentucky Travels to Oxford for Three at No. 24 Ole Miss

LEXINGTON, Ky. – After a midweek win over in-state foe Northern Kentucky to stretch the Wildcats win streak to four – the No. 16 Kentucky softball team will hit the road again, traveling to Oxford, Mississippi for a three-game weekend set with the No. 24 Ole Miss Rebels. 

The series kicks off on Friday night at 7 p.m. ET, in a game shown live on the SEC Network+, ESPN3 and the WatchESPN app. Saturday (ESPNU) and Sunday’s games (SEC Network) can be seen on national television with Trey Bender (pxp) and Leigh Dakich (color) on the call.

Kentucky swept the No. 22 Arkansas Razorbacks last time out in league play and has won four of its last six games against ranked opponents. The Rebels enter the weekend ranked No. 24 in the USA Softball/ESPN.com top 25. 

Abbey Cheek continues to lead the Wildcats offense, hitting at a .388 clip with 33 hits, six home runs and 24 RBI. In the circle for UK, Meagan Prince sits at an even 1.00 ERA through 29 games, with a 10-3 record in 19 appearances with 84.1 innings pitched. 

The Wildcats checked in at No. 15 in the NCAA’s week two release of the RPI (March 27). Kentucky has the No. 20 strength of non-conference schedule in the nation and has six wins against the RPI top 25 already. The SEC is the No. 1 RPI conference.

Ole Miss leads the all-time series with Kentucky, 28-23. The teams last met in 2016 for a three-game series where Kentucky took the last two games of the series to pick up the series win. Kentucky swept the Rebels the last time the two tangled in Oxford with wins by scores of 3-1, 3-1 and 11-4. The last time Ole Miss took a series from UK was 2006, when OM swept UK. Rachel Lawson has never lost a series to Ole Miss in her career at UK.

Ole Miss enters the weekend with a 22-10 overall record coming off an extra-inning loss to Jacksonville State on the road Wednesday afternoon. The Rebels won 16 games in a row at one point this season, and are 10-4 at home this season, where the series this weekend will be played. Guided by third-year head coach Mike Smith, the Rebels are led in the box by Elantra Cox, who is hitting .476 on the season with 50 hits, 32 runs scored and nine RBI. The Rebels haven’t dropped off in the circle with the loss of Madi Osias, as OM has five different pitchers, led by Morgan Bruce, who is throwing a 2.66 ERA and is 7-3 in the circle this season.

Friday, March 31 – 7 p.m. ET – SEC Network+, ESPN3, WatchESPN app

Saturday, April 1 – 4 p.m. ET – ESPNU, ESPN3, WatchESPN app

Sunday, April 2 – 2 p.m. ET – SEC Network, ESPN3, WatchESPN app

For the latest on the Kentucky softball team, follow @UKSoftball on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, as well as on the web at UKathletics.com.