Ole Miss players offer high praise for Oklahoma ahead of CWS Final

The lead-up to the College World Series Final between Ole Miss and Oklahoma is wrapping up, but before the Rebels take to the field Saturday, LHP Hunter Elliott complimented the Sooners’ pitching prowess this postseason.

“Obviously they’re a really good team if they’re here,” Elliott said on Friday. “I mean, we haven’t done a ton of scouting yet. I’m sure we’ll do that later today and tomorrow morning. We don’t know a ton about their hitters or stuff like that yet.

“They’re obviously really good. Their pitching staff is really good. We know that. Their hitters are really good, and all the respect in the world for them.”

Sooners head coach Skip Johnson has already revealed that Jake Bennett will get the start on the mound for Oklahoma Saturday evening. Bennett rides a seven-start win streak heading into he CWS Final.

On the season, Bennett sports a relatively average ERA of 3.66 – but that doesn’t tell the entire story. Three times this season, Bennett has had an ERA north of 10.0. Despite his struggles in all three games, Oklahoma’s big bats kept them afloat, winning one of the games and losing the other two by a combined score of five runs.

That’s not to say Bennett isn’t capable of producing a quality start with the lights on bright. The Rebels’ bats are expecting the very best Oklahoma has to offer come Game 1.

“Yeah, similar to Hunter [Elliott], you have to be a good team to make it to the national championship,” third baseman Justin Bench said. “I know they have some good arms and some good hitters, and like you said, we’re going to go over that later today and early [Saturday] to learn more about it.”

Just as Oklahoma’s stayed hot down the stretch, so has the Rebels. Their pitching staff has been on fire from the Regional round to the College World Series, and have been able to find their bats when needed as well.

Both teams are playing their best baseball of the year right now, though one team has to slip up in the best two-out-of-three series. All that will be decided soon enough, though, as Game 1 of the CWS Final between Ole Miss and the Sooners is slated for 7 p.m. ET on Saturday with ESPN carrying the national broadcast.