Ole Miss Baseball Earns No. 1 Ranking

Rebels Take Top Spot in Baseball America Poll for Highest Ranking in Program History

DURHAM, N.C. –  (Courtesy of Ole Miss Media Relations) For the first time in program history, Ole Miss baseball is ranked No. 1 in the nation.

Baseball America announced its latest national rankings Monday morning featuring Mike Bianco‘s Rebels at the top after they secured wins over No. 10 TCU and No. 3 Texas Tech over the weekend. Ole Miss wraps up play in the State Farm College Baseball Showdown on Monday at 2:30 p.m. CT.

The Rebels’ highest preseason ranking was in the Baseball America poll at No. 4, but top-ranked Florida lost its season-opening series with Miami and second-ranked UCLA dropped two of three to San Francisco, opening the door for Ole Miss to claim the top spot.

Before today, the highest ranking in program history was No. 2, most recently achieved in 2018 on the heels of an SEC Tournament Championship triumph.

Bianco’s squad opened its season with a 7-3 victory over the Horned Frogs at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, on Saturday. The Rebels plated four runs in the second inning and never looked back to start the year at 1-0.

The following day, Ole Miss found itself in a dogfight with the third-ranked Red Raiders. Texas Tech took an early 2-0 lead, but the Rebels answered back with five runs in the third, which was just enough in a 5-4 victory.

The pair of wins extended Ole Miss’ win streak to a program-record 18 games, dating back to Feb. 15, 2020.

After concluding their opening weekend on Monday afternoon against the Longhorns, Ole Miss will return home to Swayze Field, where they’ll host Arkansas State for a midweek matchup. The date of that contest has been pushed back from Tuesday to Wednesday at 4 p.m. CT.

(Feature image credit: Josh McCoy, Ole Miss)

Evelyn Van Pelt

Evelyn has covered sports for over two decades, beginning her journalism career as a sports writer for a newspaper in Austin, Texas. She attended Texas A&M and majored in English. Evelyn’s love for Ole Miss began when her daughter Katie attended the university on a volleyball scholarship. Evelyn created the Rebel Walk in 2013 and has served as publisher and managing editor since its inception.