Ole Miss Baseball Heads to Nebraska for NCAA Lincoln Regional
OXFORD, Miss. — Ole Miss baseball is set to participate in the NCAA Lincoln Regional for the 27th time in program history. The Rebels, ranked No. 18 nationally, will face Arizona State on Friday at 8 p.m. Central on ESPN2.
The regional is hosted by No. 13 seed Nebraska in Lincoln, Nebraska. Nebraska and South Dakota State will play at 3 p.m. prior to Ole Miss’s game. This marks the first time Ole Miss has played in a road regional since 2022, when they advanced to the College World Series in Miami.
Ole Miss enters the tournament with a 36-21 record and a .500 mark in Southeastern Conference play. The team lost in the first round of the SEC Tournament last week. Under head coach Mike Bianco, this is the 21st NCAA regional appearance for the Rebels.
Five Rebels received All-SEC honors this season, including first-team relief pitcher Walker Hooks and second-team selections Will Furniss, Cade Townsend, and Judd Utermark. Hunter Elliott was named to the All-Defensive Team. Taylor Rabe has posted back-to-back 10-plus strikeout performances, leading the SEC in strikeout-to-walk ratio at 10.12.
Ole Miss’s pitching staff has struck out 637 batters this season, ranking fourth nationally in strikeouts per nine innings. The Rebels are also known for their power hitting, with 100 home runs this season—one of only three programs to reach that mark. Utermark set a program record with his 49th career home run, surpassing a 39-year-old record.
The Rebels will face Arizona State’s Sun Devils, who finished with a 37-19 record under head coach Willie Bloomquist. The Sun Devils lead the Pac-12 in batting average and hits, and feature Big 12 Player of the Year Landon Hairston, who has a .413 batting average with 92 hits and 28 home runs this season.
Nebraska, the regional host, has a 42-15 record, the most wins since 2006. The Cornhuskers are led by head coach Will Bolt and boast a .312 team batting average, the best in the Big Ten. They also excel defensively, with a .985 fielding percentage and 61 double plays this season.
The regional games will be broadcast on the ESPN family of networks, with the Rebels’ opener against Arizona State on ESPN2. All Ole Miss games are also available on the Ole Miss Radio Network.
Source: Original Article
