Mike Bianco gives initial reaction to Ole Miss loss, reveals mindset entering Thursday

After barely making the NCAA Tournament field, Ole Miss stormed to seven straight wins, taking care of business on the road in the Regional and Super Regional rounds to get to the College World Series. In Omaha, they took down SEC rivals Auburn and Arkansas to advance, but finally lost in a rematch vs. Arkansas on Wednesday. Their first loss of the postseason.

Now, Ole Miss and Arkansas will play a rubber match Thursday afternoon to decide who moves on to face Oklahoma in the championship series. Mike Bianco’s Rebels are comfortable responding to adversity. They lost seven out of nine games at one point in conference play — and were doubtful to make the tourney field. But they regrouped and played much better baseball when they needed to.

Bianco believes his group will respond positively to a setback once again. The Ole Miss coach said after the game, “you’d hope that you get to this point that the adversity you go through makes you tougher — makes you persevere a little more.”

He continued, saying that the loss was a tough pill to swallow given their opportunity at the end. “It’s disappointing. Bases loaded. Bottom of the ninth. We have a chance to win it. That will take a little time tonight to get over it.” Bianco then added that even though Ole Miss has been resilient all year, every team has their backs against the wall at this point in the season. These are win or die games for everybody.

Peyton Chatagnier reveals how Ole Miss prepares to bounce back from CWS loss

By Sam Gillenwater

The moment doesn’t worry Ole Miss junior Peyton Chatagnier. While Arkansas got the better of Ole Miss on Wednesday, Thursday’s game will be a whole new performance from the second baseman and his teammates.

“We’ve been in these situations for a while now. It was bittersweet, just that game right there. We didn’t play our best baseball. I think they just played an overall better game than us,” said Chatagnier. “I can’t promise you the outcome of tomorrow’s game, but I can guarantee you we’re not scared, we’re not going to back down. This is nothing new to us.”

Chatagnier, along with the rest of the Rebel’s offense, never found their groove in their 3-2 loss on Wednesday. He recorded one of their just five overall hits against Arkansas. With the end of their season looking them down, they’ll need to find the offense that’s carried them to this point in Omaha.