Ole Miss baseball finds new life after a week of playing the waiting game
The waiting and worrying commenced when Ole Miss was sent home from Hoover and the SEC Tournament last week.
Monday brought an end to the stress with news the Rebels had not played their last baseball game in 2022.
Ole Miss received an at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament and the No. 3 seed in this weekend’s Coral Gables Regional. The Rebels were the final team into the Field of 64 as the last team in the Last Four In.
The players had a lot of time on their hands following elimination Wednesday to a postseason berth on Monday. The Rebels chose to kill the time by doing what they have done all season.
“We’ve been practicing, intrasquad,” said head coach Mike Bianco. “We haven’t been in this situation a lot. The best thing you can do is hope you have an answer like this today and just keep practicing. We intrasquaded Friday and Saturday and threw the guys that needed to throw.
“Certainly you need those at-bats. Probably the biggest fear is when you get good news like this today and you’re not prepared. That was a challenge.”
Ole Miss was one of the 64 teams to get good selection-show news.
When the players saw Ole Miss pop up on the screen they showed emotion and released any and all stress. Bianco, however, had one response.
With a smile on his face, he said, “We’ve got practice today.”
Being on the field provided a useful and productive distraction over the last week, but when not on the field, it was hard for coaches and players alike to avoid the looming question.
Kevin Graham found one way to minimize any anxiety and put blinders on when away from the team and practice.
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“Personally, I couldn’t look at anything, couldn’t watch baseball,” Graham said. “I’ve been playing a lot of Mario baseball on the GameCube. Banks Tolley and I are deep into that. It’s been a fun few days.
“It was tough. We obviously shot ourselves in the foot leading up to this position. Even my girlfriend was asking about it when I got back from practice and I didn’t want to talk about it.”
RELATED: Does Coral Gables really change the calculus for Ole Miss and Mike Bianco?
Ole Miss did lose the last game it played.
However, prior to that, the Rebels were playing some of the best baseball of the season in the final weeks of the regular season.
The offense was coming back as a fluid attack up and down the order and the pitching situation looked to be settling in with Dylan DeLucia and Hunter Elliott leading the front end of the weekend rotation.
“We’re just happy we’re in,” said Tim Elko. “We can be the 64th seed or anywhere. We’re just happy we have a chance. If you give us a chance and let us play, we’ll let our game talk.”
Ole Miss got that chance and will open up the NCAA Tournament against Arizona on Friday at 6 p.m. CT. The game will air on ESPNU.
