Ole Miss opened the postseason with a monster 3-1 win over the Gators of Florida to almost secure an Oxford Regional next weekend. In the game with Florida, the Rebels needed to beat the Gators to be safely in the Regional hosting position. Now, they can play loose and with house money the rest of the weekend as they face a path forward against Arkansas on Friday and either LSU, Texas A&M, or Auburn on Saturday.

Ole Miss is in the best position regarding Conference Tournaments unless they play Texas A&M on Saturday. They have a grouping of teams that have secured regional hosting, with two of the three being top-eight national seeds. Those teams have nothing to play for this weekend other than pride itself. Another win this weekend, and the Rebels would have wins over Florida and Arkansas and reach a lock for an Oxford Regional next weekend.

So, how’d we get here? What are some takeaways? Observations?

First, Ole Miss is taking the SEC Tournament seriously. They want to lock up a Regional and add another trophy to the trophy case at Swayze Field. Unlike some, Coach Bianco brought his Rebels to Hoover to win a game or two and the SEC Tournament. We saw that in the pitching decision made by Coach Bianco on Wednesday night to roll Hunter Elliott out against Florida. Elliott finished his day with eight strikeouts, two hits, and one earned run. Using Coach Bianco’s logic from last night, there’s a good chance that Ole Miss will use Riley Maddox on Friday afternoon against Arkansas, then maybe Mason Nichols on Saturday; we’ll see a collection of midweek guys on Sunday.

Second, despite not having the bats, Ole Miss did what it had to do on the defensive side to keep the Gators from scoring more than one run. Part of it was the pitching; the other half was limiting the careless mistakes and not overcorrecting them when they happened. Ole Miss made the plays when they needed them the most, and they walked away with a victory; sometimes, not complicating baseball is the only way to go during this time of year.

Third, when thinking long term for pitching, Ole Miss has a starting rotation with the midweek guys that deliver the Rebels an etch in Tournament play. Sure, anybody could have an off night, but it’s hard to imagine more than a few teams with better pitchers made for tournament play than Ole Miss. You have the one-two punch in Hunter Elliott and Riley Maddox to go with a talented bullpen combined with the consistent Mason Nichols, and you have a pitching staff that delivers Ole Miss with a legitimate shot to not only win the SEC Tournament but to have run at the College World Series.

Lastly, it might not be to the level of 2022 when Tim Elko led the Rebels to win the College World Series, but there’s something different about this team where they seem to be on a mission to prove some folks wrong for a couple of bad losses. You can feel a different level of momentum building for the Rebels heading into the Arkansas game on Friday afternoon. Ole Miss came to Hoover to win baseball games and build momentum for another magical run to the College World Series.