It’s no surprise that Ole Miss is turning to their ace to start their NCAA Tournament opener on Friday in the College Station Regional.

The Rebels (35-24) take on TCU (36-19) at 12:35 p.m. on Friday and right-hander Bobby Wahl will take the hill for Ole Miss. Wahl (6-3) has a 2.26 ERA and has posted 90 strikeouts with 31 walks in his 87 2⁄3 innings of work. The sophomore is holding opponents to a .211 batting average.

Ole Miss and TCU met in the opening weekend this season, a weekend that was impacted by rain thatshortened the series to two games. The two teams split the series with Ole Miss claiming the season opener before TCU rallied to take the second game.

“We had a pretty good game against TCU offensively the first time we faced them,” Ole Miss coach Mike Bianco said. “I remember their starter in that season opener, Andrew Mitchell, was a big, power right-hander and the kind of pitcher you see in the SEC on a Friday night. He was outstanding.”