OXFORD — The last two seasons were a disappointment for Ole Miss.
There’s no getting around that. After winning a national title in 2022, Ole Miss failed to get to the postseason in 2023 and 2024. There were high-profile defections from the roster once the transfer portal opened, but the veterans who stayed never lost faith.
That perseverance was rewarded Monday when Ole Miss was rewarded with the No. 10 overall seed and a regional host site in the NCAA Tournament, which begins at 16 locations around the country Friday.
“It’s really big to bring postseason back to Swayze,” Ole Miss pitcher Riley Maddox said. “These fans deserve it. I think we deserve it the most. We played great all year and this is one of the goals that we wanted when we started the season. To finally accomplish it is pretty good, but we’re not done yet. We have to win this weekend and then we’ll worry about the next one.
“It’s cool to come back and say what you wanted to do — to host this regional and hopefully win a national championship is our goal. The past two seasons it’s been rough not making the postseason but for us to host the regional — not just to get in but to host — is really cool.”
“From the first day on campus here, that’s kind of your goal,” third baseman Luke Hill said. “You want to be the best baseball team you can. We have goals and standards here at Ole Miss. You always want to host a regional and stuff like that. Seeing your dreams and what you expect coming into the season become reality is pretty cool.”
Ole Miss (40-19) has been consistent all season, winning 16 Southeastern Conference games and then defeating Florida, Arkansas and LSU in the SEC Tournament before losing a 3-2 decision Sunday in Hoover, Ala., to national top seed Vanderbilt.
“I think we knew we were good,” Maddox said. “Coach B (Mike Bianco) says it a lot and we say it — we’re an old team. Old teams win in college baseball. That was probably it. We had a whole senior outfield and I think we only had maybe one underclassman starting in the lineup. Old teams win. We were really confident with what we saw in the fall and the early spring, but as the season went on and we kept winning games — I think we won 13 games in a row at one point — we were really confident. We knew we could beat anybody and play with anybody.”
Obviously, pitching, hitting and defense is what wins baseball games. However, intangibles matter, and as this season churned along, the Rebels built chemistry.
“We’re a close-knit group of guys,” Hill said. “That’s not anything towards the past teams, but I feel like here we’re clicking. We’re playing really good baseball and off the field, we’re just as close friends as on the field. It’s a good spot to be in.
“We have a ton of guys that are so much fun to be around. There are no cancers on the team. It’s just a close-knit group of guys. You love playing with them and you want to play for them. When you have that extra motive, you’re going to win a lot of baseball games.”
Ole Miss opens play Friday night versus Murray State. Western Kentucky and Georgia Tech meet earlier Friday. The regional goes through Monday, if necessary.
“It’s so much fun,” Hill said. “The fans are involved. The whole town is rallying around you and it’s like you’re fighting for a town and a state at the same time. What more could you ask for as a college kid? That’s everything you dream of when you go to sleep at night as a middle schooler. You want to be in those situations and we get to live those out right now. It’s a pretty awesome experience.”
