On3 Things to Know: Baseball is back and Ole Miss is ready to begin national title defense

A little less than eight months ago the Ole Miss baseball team was dogpiling at Charles Schwab Field after securing its first national championship in program history and completing one of the more improbable postseason runs.

Fast forward those eight months and the Rebels are set to defend that title with the 2023 season beginning on Friday. The march to Omaha and a return trip to the Men’s College World Series starts with a three-game series against the Delaware Fighting Blue Hens at 4 p.m. CT on Friday.

Ole Miss will send out Hunter Elliott as its ace to break the seal on the season and anchor a starting rotation that is set, at least for this weekend.

Joining Elliott will be true freshman right-hander Grayson Saunier on Saturday and transfer left-hander Xavier Rivas will get the start in Sunday’s series finale.

Coming from the University of Indianapolis, Rivas had a solid fall and was part of the starting trio that, as head coach Mike Bianco noted earlier this week, “separated themselves” from the rest of the starting pitcher contenders for Ole Miss

Rivas gave up the least amount of runs in the fall out of all the Rebels pitchers.

“(Rivas) had a tough outing two weeks ago here but it was the only tough outing of maybe the seven or eight outings he’s had here so far,” Bianco said on Wednesday. “As dominant as anybody. Three different pitches with fastball, curveball, slider and an occasional change-up. Left-handed, which is always welcomed in this program, but a guy that I think can pitch well on the weekend for us.”

Lets take a closer look at this weekend’s series, with game notes provided by Ole Miss Athletics Media Relations.

LEADING OFF

• Ole Miss finished the 2022 season as the NCAA Baseball National Champions for the first time in program history
• The Rebels have lost just six games since April 29, 2022 and are 19-6 during that stretch
• Ole Miss opens its 23^rd season under head coach Mike Bianco, winning at least 30 games in every season and at least 40 in 10 seasons
• Ole Miss is 20-2 in home openers under Mike Bianco
• The Rebels have the fourth-most wins in the country since 2018 with 192 victories over the last five seasons
• Jacob Gonzalez and Hunter Elliott were named to the Golden Spikes Award Preseason Watch List, giving Ole Miss three-consecutive seasons with multiple nominees on the list
• Gonzalez was named to five different Preseason All-America lists and is the lone Rebel present on the Preseason All-SEC teams
• Elliott was named to four of the five Preseason All-America lists and was also ranked No. 31 in Perfect Game’s Top-100 Sophomores list
• Ole Miss was the only team in the nation to have at least one player at every position ranked in D1Baseball’s Position Power Rankings
• The Rebels were ranked in the top-25 in all six major preseason polls, the highest ranking coming at No. 4 from D1Baseball
• Ole Miss was projected to finish fourth in the SEC West with one first-place vote
• This is just the second time in program history that the Rebels have faced Delaware, last happening in 1969
• Ole Miss will be celebrating their 2022 National Championship all weekend long, starting with a mini replica trophy giveaway and ceremonial first pitch from Tim Elko on Friday.

HOME SWEET HOME FOR OLE MISS

Ole Miss has won its home opener in 20 of 22 seasons during the Mike Bianco era and has won the opening home series of the season in 19 of Bianco’s 22 campaigns. The Rebels have lost a home opening series just once, losing two-of-three to UCF in 2021.

SWAYZE CRAZIES

Ole Miss set a new average attendance record at Oxford-University Stadium/Swayze Field last season, averaging 9,998 fans per home game. That average was the fourth-best in the nation and gave them a season total of 309,949, also fourth in the nation. The Oxford faithful set multiple single-game and three-game series attendance records in 2022 as well. On April 23 against Mississippi State a new single-game program record of 12,503 was set, boosting that three-game series from April 21-23 to the best series attendance in program history at 35,055.

Four of Ole Miss’ top-10 single-game attendance records and three of their top-five series records were set in 2022.

OLE MISS YOUNG GUNS

Both Baseball America and Perfect Game ranked Ole Miss’ freshman class as the No. 2 class in the country when they set foot on campus in the fall. Four freshmen on the 2023 roster have been ranked on D1Baseball’s SEC Impact Freshmen list including Grayson Saunier who was named as the top SEC Impact Freshman of the Year. D1Baseball also placed him on their SEC Pitcher of the Year Watch List.

Rebel Freshmen in the D1Baseball SEC Impact Freshmen Rankings
 

• Grayson Saunier – No. 1
• Sam Tookoian – No. 28
• Will Furniss – No. 41
• JT Quinn – No. 46

GOING, GOING, GONZO

Junior Jacob Gonzalez will come into the 2023 season as one of the most decorated athletes during the preseason. Gonzalez was named a Preseason All-American by five different major publications (Baseball America, Collegiate Baseball, D1Baseball, NCBWA, and Perfect Game) while also being the only Rebel represented on the Preseason All-SEC list.

Gonzalez also became the first Rebel since 2008 to be named to the Golden Spikes Award Preseason Watch List twice in his career, earning the honor in both 2022 and 2023. D1Baseball named him the No. 3 MLB prospect in all of college baseball while MLB Pipeline ranked him No. 5 in their same list.

ON THE HUNT

Hunter Elliott was named a Preseason All-American by four major publications (Collegiate Baseball, D1Baseball, NCBWA, and Perfect Game) after having a breakout season his freshman year. Perfect Game ranked him No. 31 in their Top-100 Sophomores list and D1Baseball ranked him No. 18 in their Top 2024 MLB Draft SEC Prospects list. He was also named to the Golden Spikes Award Preseason Watch List along with teammate Jacob Gonzalez.

QUITE THE OLE MISS CAREER

Jacob Gonzalez comes into his junior season as the SEC active career leader in runs scored with 140 over two seasons of play. He is ranked third in home runs (30), sixth in RBI (107), eighth in hits (159), ninth in on-base percentage (.424), and 12^th in batting average (.315).

Despite having pitched only one season in his career so far, Hunter Elliott will start 2023 ranked third in SEC active career ERA with a 2.70. He is just one strikeout shy of being in the top-15 for active career strikeouts.