WATCH: Ole Miss drops hype video ahead of 2023 baseball season
The Ole Miss Rebels capped off a magical season in 2022 with the most coveted prize in college baseball: the national crown. Fans in Oxford can’t wait to watch the 2023 version of their beloved baseball team and the Rebels dropped a hype video to get fans amped up for the new season. They’ll begin the defense of their 2022 national title this weekend, when they open up the 2023 campaign with a three-game series against the Delaware Blue Hens.
Check out the video below.
Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco sounds confident that his team won’t have a national championship hangover from last season. Now, he’ll get to put that theory to the test.
Ole Miss freshman right hander Grayson Saunier will have plenty of eyeballs on him. Rebels’ head coach Mike Bianco tabbed him as a starter during the opening weekend, something he hasn’t done very often in the past. It will be exciting to watch him this season. Fans will get their first glimpse of the uber-talented freshman this weekend against the Delaware Blue Hens. His senior season at Collierville High School (Memphis, Tennessee) Saunier posted a 2.33 ERA to go along with 68 strikeouts in 48 innings of work.
Ole Miss hit the transfer portal to prepare for their 2023 campaign
The transfer portal is a reality across the entire college landscape, and college teams have had to adjust in every sport. Former Tulane outfielder Ethan Groff was one of the biggest lands in the offseason for Ole Miss baseball. His redshirt sophomore season for the Green Wave, Groff hit .404 from the plate. He also swatted nine home runs, hit 15 doubles (led the American Athletic Conference), and 35 RBIs.
Ole Miss also went out and landed former Northwestern infielder Anthony Calarco. Last season, he hit .325 for the Wildcats, while blasting 13 home runs. In the pitching department, Ole Miss added lefty Xavier Rivas, an All-American from the Division II school of the University of Indianapolis.
In 2022, the lefty had one of the best seasons for a pitcher in Indy baseball history, throwing 80-1/3 innings with a strikeout total of 128. His 128 strikeouts are the second all-time on the program’s single-season leaderboard.
Rivas ended the year with a 14.34 strikeouts per nine innings average which ranked towards the top of the NCAA Division II. His ERA was 2.24 which was the lowest on the team of pitchers who threw 10 or more innings. Since it’s his first transfer, Rivas will be able to take the mound this season for Ole Miss.
On3’s Nikki Chavanelle also contributed to this article.