University of Mississippi Men's Baseball

Clement helped lead the Rebels to the postseason after facing the nation's toughest schedule during the regular season. Ole Miss broke out the bats to go 7-6 against top-10 teams, including 5-4 versus teams ranked No. 1 in the country. Ole Miss cracked double digits in runs nine different times, while recording 10-or-more hits in 22 games throughout the 2015 campaign. In 2015, Clement worked with youthful Ole Miss bats while also continuing to develop the production of Rebels with experience in the lineup. With Clement's guidance, junior college transfer Connor Cloyd earned his way into a starting role, hitting .369 over 38 games played in 2015. Freshman Will Golsan and sophomore Colby Bortles, two new starters in the Ole Miss infield, found success at the plate throughout the season as well. Golsan hit at a .290 clip in his first collegiate season, and Bortles proved he could produce in the middle of the order with a .281 average and 47 RBI. Transitioning into his sophomore season, shortstop Errol Robinson maintained his production under Clement with a team-high 62 hits and a .297 average. In his first season at Ole Miss, Clement also saw Ole Miss senior slugger Sikes Orvis etch his name in the program record book. Orvis belted 16 home runs in his final season as a Rebel, the seventh-most in Ole Miss history, and added 17 doubles to help knock in a team-best 53 runs. In two years as hitting coach at K-State, Clement made an immediate impact on the Wildcat offense, raising it to not only among the Big 12 Conference's best, but also near the top of the national leaderboard. Named the K-State hitting coach in July of 2012, Clement led the Wildcat offense to nation's second-best batting average in 2013 while the team went on to capture the Big 12 title, host and win its first NCAA Regional, and come within one victory of the program making its first trip to the College World Series. In addition to a high national ranking in batting average, the Wildcats were also ranked in the top 10 nationally in six other categories, finishing fifth in hits (705), triples (28) and sacrifice flies (40), eighth in triples per game (0.44) and on-base percentage (.406), and 10th in hit-by-pitch (96). The Wildcats paced the Big 12 in each of those categories in addition to RBI (368) and steals (99). In 2014, the Wildcats were second among Big 12 teams in OBP (.385), third in runs per game (5.8), and fourth in team batting average (.283). Nationally, K-State was 25th in OBP and tied for 18th in stolen bases. Clement, a veteran coach with nine years of experience at the Division I level and strong recruiting ties in the state of Texas, tutored a pair of All-Americans, seven All-Big 12 performers, and four MLB draft picks who went on to play professionally. Ross Kivett, the Big 12's Player of the Year in 2013, was one of seven hitters in Clement's first year that earned All-Big 12 honors, a group that included six first team selections. Kivett joined fellow All-Big 12 First Team selection Jared King as the two Wildcats who also garnered All-American accolades in 2013. King went on to be selected in the fifth round of the MLB Draft by the New York Mets, which was the first time he had been drafted. Kivett was also drafted in 2013, in the 10th round by the Cleveland Indians, but he elected to return for his senior season. The outfielder and second baseman received All-Big 12 honors once again while he was one of three hitters under Clement's direction taken in the 2014 MLB Draft. Kivett was selected in the sixth round by the Detroit Tigers - the fourth hitter drafted in the sixth round or higher who had worked with Clement since 2006 - and Mitch Meyer and Austin Fisher were taken in the seventh and 13th round, respectively. In nine years at the Division I level, Clement has had 17 players get selected in the MLB Draft. Prior to coming to K-State, Clement was on the staff at Texas A&M for three years after spending the previous four seasons at UTSA, including the final three as the team's hitting coach. In addition to helping the Wildcats reach the Super Regional round in 2013, Clement has been a member of three other postseason teams, including a trip to the 2011 College World Series. Texas A&M advanced to postseason play each year Clement was a part of the coaching staff. He helped guide the Aggies to both the Big 12 conference regular-season and postseason championship titles in 2011 on their way to a College World Series appearance. In 2010, Texas A&M won the Big 12 Championship and advanced to the championship game of the NCAA Coral Gables Regional, while the Aggies hosted a NCAA Regional in 2012. Clement helped direct an Aggie offense in 2012 that led the Big 12 and ranked fourth nationally with 129 steals. Also, Clement coached the Texas A&M infielders that saw its 2011 squad decrease its errors by 23 from the previous year and finish in the top 25 nationally with a .975 fielding percentage. During his time at UTSA from 2006-09, Clement helped the Roadrunners accumulate a 144-81 overall record - including an impressive 84-40 mark in Southland Conference play - win two Southland Conference regular-season titles, tutor 16 hitters that earned All-Southland Conference honors and set 30 offensive school records. Additionally, UTSA saw its team batting average jump 32 points from .285 the year before he took over the offense to .317 during his final season, a mark that still stands as the school record. In his final year as the hitting coach in San Antonio, Clement steered an offense that rewrote the record books as he helped the Roadrunners win a school-record 39 games. Along the way, UTSA set new highs in five offensive categories, including home runs, hits and batting average. UTSA finished in the top 25 nationally in triples (11th; 25), slugging percentage (20th; .532) and home runs (21st; 89), while the 2009 squad also stole 79 bases to rank third in school history, the most since a school-record 92 in 1999. Clement tutored just the second All-American in UTSA history in Michael Rockett. The outfielder, who was a four-time All-Southland Conference performer, was drafted in the 13th round of the 2009 MLB Draft by Detroit. Prior to his stint at UTSA, Clement served as an assistant for one year at Kirkwood Junior College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Morningside College in Sioux City, Iowa, and then spent one year at Loyola High School in Los Angeles. He was also an assistant coach for the Orleans Cardinals in the prestigious Cape Cod Baseball League in the summers of 2005 and 2006, including a Cape Cod Championship in 2005. A former college catcher, Clement played two seasons at Kirkwood, helping the Eagles compile a 91-25 record. He finished his college career at Morningside, where he earned his bachelor's degree in physical education/secondary education in 2002. Following college, the Marshalltown, Iowa, native played professionally one season for the Canton Coyotes of the Frontier League. Clement comes from a baseball background as his father, Brad, was a legendary head coach at Marshalltown (Iowa) High School, helping the Bobcats win three state championships before being inducted into the Iowa High School Hall of Fame. Clement's younger brother, Jeff, was drafted in the first round of the 2005 Major League Baseball Draft by the Seattle Mariners. The eight-year veteran spent time in the majors with Seattle and Pittsburgh before retiring prior to the start of the 2014 season. Clement is married to the former Amanda Rosenberg of Kingwood, Texas. Monday, November 14, 2016 - Football Freeze said that it was good meeting with the team yesterday. A lot of good things happened with a lot of improvement in a lot of areas. To go on the road to Kyle Field, there was a lot of... Monday, November 7, 2016 - Football p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica} Freeze said the team is excited to win a game. It was a tough one. They spent a lot... Saturday, November 5, 2016 - Football By Alex Sims, Ole Miss AthleticsThe Ole Miss Rebels entered Saturday's meeting with Georgia Southern already shorthanded--then defensive captain John Youngblood went down. Then quarterback Chad Kelly went down. And suddenly, Ole Miss found itself fighting off a feisty underdog... Monday, October 31, 2016 - Football After meeting yesterday and watching the film, our kids competed against one of the hottest football teams in the country. They needed a couple more plays. Freeze has zero frustration over effort, but he does over having a recurring problem... Saturday, October 29, 2016 - Football For most of the game on Saturday, Auburn's defense had no answer for Ole Miss' signal caller. Even his incompletions were on target. He threw for a school-record 465 yards while adding 40 yards on the ground to eclipse... Monday, October 24, 2016 - Football It was not the outcome Ole Miss wanted on Saturday night. Life doesn't get any easier in the SEC West. Auburn is an outstanding football team and maybe the best defensive they've seen this year. Their rushing game is... Thursday, October 20, 2016 - Football Somehow, the college football regular season is already halfway in the books. With that, many publications released their midseason All-America lists. There's a common theme to each of them at the TE position. Evan Engram.Engram was selected as the... Tuesday, October 18, 2016 - Football Special Olympics MS - Students at the University of Mississippi are partnering with Special Olympics Mississippi athletes in the 2016 season of SO College unified flag football, which will culminate in the Unified Egg Bowl, a unified sports flag... Tuesday, October 18, 2016 - Football Pro Football Focus grades players on a 1-100 scale, and Ole Miss' Jordan Sims was graded out by PFF as having the best performance of any guard in the SEC in week seven. His grade of 81.0 against the... Monday, October 17, 2016 - Football There's another SEC road game this week. This one means a lot to our people. They'll let their players know about the history of the matchup between Ole Miss and LSU. The Arkansas game was frustrating. Ole Miss has... Monday, October 17, 2016 - Football There's another SEC road game this week. This one means a lot to our people. They'll let their players know about the history of the matchup between Ole Miss and LSU. The Arkansas game was frustrating. Ole Miss has... Monday, October 10, 2016 - Baseball Rebel greats Jake Gibbs and Joe Gibbon will take part in a World Series viewing party hosted by the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame on the opening night of the Fall Classic.  Gibbs and Gibbon will be joined by... Monday, October 10, 2016 - Football Hugh Freeze said that the team enjoyed the off-week. There was a lot of work to be done though with things like recruiting while also improving and getting the team healthy. Ole Miss continues to be in the hunt... Thursday, October 6, 2016 - Thursday, October 6, 2016 - Ole Miss faced a difficult opening month of the season, but there's no doubt about the exposure the Rebels received during the opening month of the season. Two of the four most watched games to this point in the...

Lafferty has worked to develop 23 pitchers who have gone on to the professional ranks. Three Rebels from the 2015 team (Christian Trent, Jacob Waguespack and Scott Weathersby) are the latest Ole Miss pitchers playing professionally after learning from Lafferty. Since the 2010 season, Lafferty has served as the teams recruiting coordinator, bringing in nationally ranked recruiting classes year after year. His first class was ranked No. 8 by Baseball America, a group that led the Rebels to Omaha in 2014 for the first time since 1972. In 2011, Lafferty helped haul in the first top-5 recruiting class of the Bianco era; the class was ranked third nationally by Collegiate Baseball and fifth by Baseball America. Ole Miss followed with another top-5 recruiting class in 2012, and the 2013 class ranked eighth to give the Rebels four straight top-10 classes. In his first year back working on the field as a volunteer assistant in 2007, Lafferty worked with the outfielders and catchers, and assisted with the hitters. Lafferty also served as the first base coach. In his time working with the outfielders, Lafferty helped develop Jordan Henry, the 2007 SEC Freshman of the Year selection and a Freshman All-America selection. He also worked with his brother, Justin, a ninth round draft pick of the Detroit Tigers in the 2007 Major League Baseball Draft. Upon moving to a full-time position in 2008, Lafferty continued to work with the catchers, but also assumed duties assisting head coach Mike Bianco with the pitching staff before assuming duties as recruiting coordinator prior to the 2010 season. In his first season as a full-time assistant, Lafferty tutored several players who went on to be drafted in the 2008 MLB Draft, including three pitchers taken in the first 75 picks - Lance Lynn (39), Cody Satterwhite (67) and Scott Bittle (75). Bittle earned First Team All-America honors. Lafferty also worked with catcher, Brett Basham, who earned SEC All-Defensive team honors and was drafted by the Chicago White Sox in the 16th round. Basham led the SEC in runners caught stealing and led all catchers in runners picked off. Lynn went on to help the St. Louis Cardinals claim the 2011 World Series in his rookie season in the Major Leagues. The trend continued in 2009 as the Rebels saw 11 players drafted, eight of whom worked under the direction of Lafferty. Six pitchers and two catchers were drafted in the 2009 season, including pitchers Scott Bittle (4th round - St. Louis), Nathan Baker (5th round - Pittsburgh), Brett Bukvich (18th round - Florida), Phillip Irwin (21st round - Pittsburgh), Aaron Barrett (27th round - Texas), Chris Corrigan (30th round - St. Louis), and catchers Brett Basham (50th round - San Diego) and Kyle Henson (39th round - San Francisco). The former catcher was also responsible for helping the Rebels claim the 2009 Southeastern Conference Championship. Lafferty continued to develop top pitching talent for the Rebels in 2010, guiding a pair of arms to All-America status. Junior southpaw Drew Pomeranz was named an All-America selection while freshman right-hander Brett Huber was named a Freshman All-America selection. Both pitchers also garnered All-SEC honors. Pomeranz also went on to be named the SEC Pitcher of the Year, the first in the history of the award for Ole Miss. A finalist for the National Pitcher of the Year and the Golden Spikes Award, Pomeranz was taken by the Cleveland Indians with the fifth overall pick in the 2010 MLB Draft, becoming the highest drafted player in school history. He was one of four pitchers under Laffertys tutelage to be drafted in 2010. He added to his list of players to go on and play professional ball in 2011 with the selection of four pitchers and a catcher in the MLB Draft. David Goforth (7th round Milwaukee), Austin Wright (8th round Philadelphia), Miles Hamblin (12th round Houston), Matt Crouse (24th round Detroit) and Matt Tracy (24th round New York Yankees) were all drafted and signed to play professionally. The number of pitchers to go on to the professional ranks after playing under Lafferty grew following the 2012 season when Dylan Chavez (14th round Boston) and R.J. Hively (19th round Arizona) were both selected in the MLB Draft. The assistant coach continued to add to the list of players who moved on to the professional ranks under his tutaledge following the 2013 campaign when four of the five drafted players were pitchers, including third round pick Mike Mayers, fifth round pick Bobby Wahl and both seniors Tanner Bailey and Brett Huber. Lafferty returned to Ole Miss in 2004 to complete his degree after having spent several years playing professional baseball with the St. Louis Cardinals organization. Lafferty earned his Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice with a minor in Sociology from the University of Mississippi in 2004. He was drafted by the Florida Marlins in the 20th round of the 2001 MLB Draft. After a short stint with the Marlins, Lafferty signed a professional contract with the St. Louis Cardinals. The catcher played two seasons (2002-03) with the Peoria Chiefs, a single-A affiliate of the Cardinals, and also played with the high-A affiliate, the Palm Beach Cardinals. A native of Pine Bluff, Arkansas, he played for the Rebels from 1998-2001, finishing his career in the first year under current head coach Mike Bianco. A four-time letterwinner, Lafferty hit .307 for his career with 104 RBI. He also notched 42 extra-base hits, including 16 home runs. As a senior, Lafferty was named to the All-SEC second team, becoming the schools 92nd All-SEC honoree in program history. Lafferty also served as team captain that season. Lafferty is married to the former Lauren Nelson of Baldwyn, Mississippi. The couple has one child, William Carl Lafferty IV. Monday, November 14, 2016 - Football Freeze said that it was good meeting with the team yesterday. A lot of good things happened with a lot of improvement in a lot of areas. To go on the road to Kyle Field, there was a lot of... Monday, November 7, 2016 - Football p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica} Freeze said the team is excited to win a game. It was a tough one. They spent a lot... Saturday, November 5, 2016 - Football By Alex Sims, Ole Miss AthleticsThe Ole Miss Rebels entered Saturday's meeting with Georgia Southern already shorthanded--then defensive captain John Youngblood went down. Then quarterback Chad Kelly went down. And suddenly, Ole Miss found itself fighting off a feisty underdog... Monday, October 31, 2016 - Football After meeting yesterday and watching the film, our kids competed against one of the hottest football teams in the country. They needed a couple more plays. Freeze has zero frustration over effort, but he does over having a recurring problem... Saturday, October 29, 2016 - Football For most of the game on Saturday, Auburn's defense had no answer for Ole Miss' signal caller. Even his incompletions were on target. He threw for a school-record 465 yards while adding 40 yards on the ground to eclipse... Monday, October 24, 2016 - Football It was not the outcome Ole Miss wanted on Saturday night. Life doesn't get any easier in the SEC West. Auburn is an outstanding football team and maybe the best defensive they've seen this year. Their rushing game is... Thursday, October 20, 2016 - Football Somehow, the college football regular season is already halfway in the books. With that, many publications released their midseason All-America lists. There's a common theme to each of them at the TE position. Evan Engram.Engram was selected as the... Tuesday, October 18, 2016 - Football Special Olympics MS - Students at the University of Mississippi are partnering with Special Olympics Mississippi athletes in the 2016 season of SO College unified flag football, which will culminate in the Unified Egg Bowl, a unified sports flag... Tuesday, October 18, 2016 - Football Pro Football Focus grades players on a 1-100 scale, and Ole Miss' Jordan Sims was graded out by PFF as having the best performance of any guard in the SEC in week seven. His grade of 81.0 against the... Monday, October 17, 2016 - Football There's another SEC road game this week. This one means a lot to our people. They'll let their players know about the history of the matchup between Ole Miss and LSU. The Arkansas game was frustrating. Ole Miss has... Monday, October 17, 2016 - Football There's another SEC road game this week. This one means a lot to our people. They'll let their players know about the history of the matchup between Ole Miss and LSU. The Arkansas game was frustrating. Ole Miss has... Monday, October 10, 2016 - Baseball Rebel greats Jake Gibbs and Joe Gibbon will take part in a World Series viewing party hosted by the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame on the opening night of the Fall Classic.  Gibbs and Gibbon will be joined by... Monday, October 10, 2016 - Football Hugh Freeze said that the team enjoyed the off-week. There was a lot of work to be done though with things like recruiting while also improving and getting the team healthy. Ole Miss continues to be in the hunt... Thursday, October 6, 2016 - Thursday, October 6, 2016 - Ole Miss faced a difficult opening month of the season, but there's no doubt about the exposure the Rebels received during the opening month of the season. Two of the four most watched games to this point in the...