winging it

Trustmark Park is a notorious pitchers’ park, so when considering tonight’s Southern Miss-Ole Miss game in Pearl, it makes sense to cut right to the starting pitchers. They are a study in contrast. USM’s Mason Walley is a 6-foot right-hander, a Taylorsville native who transferred in this year from junior college powerhouse LSU-Eunice. Ole Miss’ James McArthur is a 6-foot-7, 217-pound left-hander, a freshman from Texas. Walley, who won a state high school championship at the TeePee in 2013 with Taylorsville, hasn’t worked much for the Golden Eagles. In four games (8 1/3 innings), he is 1-1 with a 4.32 ERA. He was an ace at Taylorsville and at LSU-E, going 11-1 for the NJCAA Division II champions last year. McArthur has been something of a midweek ace for the Rebels. He is 3-0 with a 5.48 ERA in six games, including five midweek starts. He’ll face a USM team with a lot of momentum. The Eagles (22-7) pounded Charlotte in a C-USA sweep over the weekend, scoring 34 runs. USM has won six of seven overall and has a six-game win streak against the Rebels. USM has beaten UM seven of 10 in the Trustmark College Series. The nationally ranked Rebels (21-7) are in a 1-5 tailspin in which they’ve had trouble scoring. Trustmark Park is typically not a place for bats to come alive, though USM and Mississippi State combined for 18 runs there last week. Even in a pitchers’ park, pitchers gotta pitch.