For the first time since winning the National Championship in 2022, the day has arrived where it’s a new day, and it’s an Ole Miss game day in Omaha as the Ole Miss Rebels open the 2026 College World Series under the lights on Friday night with an interesting matchup with the North Carolina Tar Heels. 

Ole Miss comes into the College World Series as one of the hottest teams in college baseball by sweeping through the Lincoln Regional with wins over Nebraska and Arizona State, before taking the show to Plainsman Park, where they took a straight two games over Auburn to advance to the College World Series. While their counterparts struggled last weekend, they came away with a winner-take-all game over USC to punch their ticket to Omaha. 

Ole Miss will go with Taylor Rabe on the mound on Friday as Coach Bianco and his Rebels look to start the College World Series off to a fast start with one of the best pitchers in the country. 

As good as the bats have been during the regular season, it’s really been the pitching that has given Ole Miss the best chances at victory. Tonight it’ll be Taylor Rabel; Sunday will likely be Cade Townsend; then Hunter Elliott; maybe Hudson Calhoun; and then guys like Hudson Calhoun, JP Robertson, Landon Water, and Walker Hooks coming out of the bullpen.

Once the pitching does what they’ve been doing all tournament long, it’s up to the bats of Ole Miss to take advantage of scoring chances and not leave guys on base because the patience isn’t there, and guys try to hit home runs instead of getting a needed hit. If Ole Miss were to have a deep run in Omaha, it would come down to guys like Judd Utermark, Austin Fawley, Dom Decker, and others to score runs and to position the Rebels for the most success. 

At the end of the day, if Ole Miss is able to get a solid night from Taylor Rabe and the offense does what they’re capable of doing, then the Rebels could have a lot of success as they continue the hot streak from Regional Play. Ole Miss has peaked at the right time and comes to Omaha with all the mometum in the world, and outside of Georgia or Texas could very well be in contention for a national championship. 

Ole Miss and North Carolina will get underway around 6:00 tonight on ESPN. 

Photo Credits- Ole Miss baseball on X