Ole Miss Baseball Picks Up Top-Five Ranking In D1 Baseball Preseason Poll
OXFORD, Miss. – Just one month from today, the defending national champions in college baseball will take the diamond at Swayze Field. Ole Miss will host the Delaware Blue Hens Feb. 17-19, 2023, with first pitch for game one scheduled for 3:00 p.m. CT.
The D1 Baseball 2023 preseason poll was released Tuesday morning, and Ole Miss comes in at No. 4 to start the year. D1 Baseball is recognized as the premier poll in college baseball, and the Rebels under head coach Mike Bianco have consistently found themselves in the top ten to start their campaigns each year under his leadership.
Ole Miss is coming off of a roller coaster year in 2022 that culminated with the Rebels bringing home the ultimate prize. It was a season that started with much promise, but then Ole Miss fell to 7-14 in SEC play at one point — seemingly all but out of NCAA tournament contention. But a miraculous run to end the season saw the Rebs get hot and that gave them just enough of a push to squeak by as one of the last four teams in.
All they needed was a chance.
The Rebels went on to go 10-1 in the postseason, with their only loss coming in a non-elimination game against Arkansas in Omaha. Following the loss, Ole Miss would win its next three, including the two that mattered most, sweeping Oklahoma to win the national championship.
JOB DONE. pic.twitter.com/eGVfvkG2aY
— Ole Miss Baseball (@OleMissBSB) June 26, 2022
Since Mike Bianco took over as head coach of the Rebels, Ole Miss has seen much success. They have won three SEC titles and have made 18 postseason appearances including eight super regional appearances, two of which have culminated in Omaha, with the most recent resulting in a national championship.
Coach Bianco is the winningest coach in Ole Miss baseball history, with an overall record of 854-485-1. Ole Miss has won 40 or more games nine times in Bianco’s tenure.
D1 Baseball Top 25 Poll
The entire preseason poll from D1 Baseball is as follows:
No. 1: LSU Tigers
No. 2: Tennessee Volunteers
No. 3: Stanford Cardinal
No. 4: Ole Miss Rebels
No. 5: Texas A&M Aggies
No. 6: Wake Forest Demon Deacons
No. 7: Florida Gators
No. 8: Arkansas Razorbacks
No. 9: Oklahoma State Cowboys
No. 10: Vanderbilt Commodores
No. 11: East Carolina Pirates
No. 12: North Carolina Tar Heels
No. 13: Maryland Terrapins
No. 14: Virginia Tech Hokies
No. 15: TCU Horned Frogs
No. 16: Louisville Cardinals
No. 17: UCLA Bruins
No. 18: Southern Miss Golden Eaglexs
No. 19: Virginia Cavaliers
No. 20: Alabama Crimson Tide
No. 21: NC State Wolfpack
No. 22: Miami Hurricanes
No. 23: South Carolina Gamecocks
No. 24: Texas Tech Red Raiders
No. 25: Oregon Ducks
Austin Eldridge
Austin has more than ten years in sports media, including sports talk radio, play-by-play broadcasting and journalism. He has followed Ole Miss athletics for his entire life and has covered the Rebels and the rest of the SEC while working in the Memphis media market. Outside of sports media, Austin is a musician and outdoorsman. Before a serious accident forced him to be medically discharged, he was a multi-media journalist with the Mississippi National Guard.
