Nobody around Ole Miss baseball wants to say "slump," but more positive adjectives don't apply at this time.

The Rebels begin perhaps the most challenging part of their schedule without a surge of positive momentum, instead going 4-6 in their last 10, a couple of RPI-blasting non-conference losses in that span.

No. 14 Ole Miss has held serve the last two weekends, going 3-3 against SEC opponents Tennessee and Georgia, but those teams are a collective 6-18 in SEC play with half of those wins coming against the Rebels.

"I really don't think we're in a funk, honestly," utility player Matt Smith says. "It's just the little things we've got to do. And honestly, if we're going to make mistakes, we've got to make them now instead of later on in the season when it's crunch time."

The Rebels face teams ranked eight, nine and 10 in the Baseball America top 25 over three of the next four weekends. That stretch begins tonight in Columbia at 6 against No. 10 South Carolina (26-7, 9-3), the SEC East leaders. Saturday's game time is 2 p.m., and will be televised by Fox Sports South. Sunday's game begins at 12:30.

No. 14 Ole Miss (23-11, 7-5) is tied for third in the West with Auburn, a game behind No. 8 LSU and two games behind No. 9 Arkansas, both of whom the Rebels will face in Oxford soon.

South Carolina, LSU and Arkansas are the three hottest teams in the league right now, the Gamecocks and Tigers going 7-3 in their last 10 games, the Razorbacks 9-1.

The Rebels are seventh in the SEC in batting average (.299) and seventh in runs scored (248).

In Wednesday's 6-5 loss at Memphis, Ole Miss stranded 12 runners but also made outs on the basepaths and committed three errors.

South Carolina enters the weekend hitting .293 but is second in the league in pitching with a 3.24 ERA. Gamecocks pitchers have struck out an SEC-high 319 opposing batters, three ahead of Ole Miss.

While it appears to be lacking consistency in some areas, Ole Miss coach Mike Bianco says his team isn't lacking confidence.

"They realize they're blowing opportunities, and nobody wants to lose games. We have to play better," he said. "The good news is we have played better. But it's not like any one of the three phases has really left us. At certain times they have. I just think we're a pitch off, we're a hit off, we're a hit off. We're not playing terrible, but we're not playing well enough to win."

Pitching matchups:

- Tonight: Ole Miss LHP Drew Pomeranz (6-0, 1.57) vs. South Carolina RHP Blake Cooper (6-0, 2.85)

- Saturday: Ole Miss RHP Aaron Barrett (6-1, 1.90) vs. South Carolina RHP Sam Dyson

(2-2, 5.87)

- Sunday: Ole Miss RHP David Goforth (1-2, 6.04) vs. South Carolina RHP Jay Brown (2-0, 2.84)