OXFORD — Monday went about the way Mike Bianco and his team expected.
The Rebels earned the 10th seed in the NCAA Tournament, which was released at 11 a.m. CDT Monday, meaning they’ll host a four-team regional this weekend and, if everything goes by chalk, head to 7th-seeded Georgia next weekend for a Super Regional and a spot in the College World Series next month in Omaha.
“It’s one of our goals,” Bianco said. “It’s not just to make it to a regional but to host it. To be one of the final 16 when the season ends, it’s a great reward for the players and it’s a great reward for our great fans. It’s special to play at home in postseason. It’s good to be back here and I know the guys are excited to continue at Swayze.”
Ole Miss (40-19) was in the mix for the eighth national seed, which would mean a guaranteed home field all the way to Omaha. Ultimately, that spot went to Oregon State, with Florida State slipping in at No. 9. The Rebels made a strong case late, taking two of three from Auburn and then beating Florida, Arkansas and LSU before losing to Vanderbilt Sunday in the Southeastern Conference Tournament title game.
“We thought probably, or at least I thought probably, like a lot of people, if we won the championship, it was a great few weeks’ finish and we beat a lot of teams that were going to be a national seed,” Bianco said. “We knew we were probably on the bubble for that. You just don’t know. You don’t know until you hear your name on Sunday night.”
Pitcher Riley Maddox said he if he had been looking on Twitter/X and other media outlets, so he was expecting to land right around where Ole Miss did.
"They said we were somewhere in the 10-13 range," Maddox said. "So I wasn't surprised with where we were. I'm really happy with what we got."
Bianco said the team’s mantra is to be where your feet are and take care of business.
“You try to not get too far ahead of yourself and those are one of the things that are out of our control,” Bianco said. “I certainly thought we’d be in the running but at the end of the day, you have to win games, so we have to win games and if you do that, you get to try to win more games next weekend, regardless of where it is.”
Ole Miss will face Murray State on Friday. The rest of the Oxford Regional includes Western Kentucky and Georgia Tech. It’s a safe bet the Hilltoppers and Yellow Jackets will play early Friday with the Rebels and Racers meeting that night.
Some SEC teams have gotten into the habit of playing the early game on Friday. Bianco said that’s not something he’s considered too terribly strongly.
“I always felt that that’s a disappointing thing for your fans,” Bianco said. “Usually it’s really hot here, like a lot of our counterparts, and I don’t necessarily be playing at 1 or 2 o’clock if I don’t have to. We’re used to playing on Friday night. Our fans are used to being here on Friday night. And that’s kind of the reward.
“I get it that if you lose, you have to turn around and play again, but you’re supposed to win. So I think the plusses outweigh minuses. We’ve always thought it’s the right thing to do for our players and our fans to have that atmosphere of Friday night in Swayze Field.”
Ole Miss beat Murray State on March 5, winning a 10-inning game, 8-7. The Racers scored six runs in the seventh inning to take a 7-4 lead. Ole Miss answered with a run in the eighth and two in the ninth to force extra innings. Bianco admitted with a laugh Monday he didn’t really remember that one, which came just nine days before the start of the SEC slate.
“It was a long time ago,” Bianco said, laughing.
That said, the Rebels won’t have a difficult time taking Murray State seriously. The Racers were 39-13 overall and 17-8 in the Missouri Valley Conference. The same holds for Western Kentucky and Georgia Tech.
“All of these teams, statistically, do everything well,” Bianco said. “You try to go, hey, what’s going to be the Achilles? They’ve all had great years. …It’s quite a field coming to Oxford.”
