Ole Miss Newcomers and Veterans Blend for Win on Opening Day
OXFORD, Miss. – As Paul Newman asked in the classic film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, “Who are those guys?”
When Ole Miss took to the Swayze Field diamond to defend its national title, there was no Tim Elko. There was no Kevin Graham. There was no Justin Bench. There was no Dylan DeLucia.
There were still plenty of familiar faces. Senior Peyton Chatagnier got the Rebels on their way to an 11-2 win over Delaware with a second-inning home run, plating three of the four runs he drove in during the game.
T.J. McCants sent a shot over the wall to spark beer showers in the right field bleachers and initiate the new light show celebration at the ballpark.
Let There Be Light pic.twitter.com/0gCdB6TAHU
— Ole Miss Baseball (@OleMissBSB) February 18, 2023
Jacob Gonzalez had a hit and played flawless shortstop.
Kemp Alderman had a pair of hits – one of them a double — and made a sliding catch in his new left field home.
Calvin Harris took over the catching duties from the graduated Hayden Dunhurst and had a pair of hits.
And of course, Hunter Elliott began his sophomore season by striking out nine in five innings of work to earn the victory.
But it was the new faces who seemed to capture attention. As Butch asked, “Who are those guys.”
Allow us to make an introduction.
Welcome, center fielder Ethan Groff. The Tulane transfer hit a homer and stole a base in his Ole Miss debut and with his speed in center next to McCants in right, gives the Rebels a strong right side of the outfield.
THIRD homer of the inning! @ethangroff12 with his first bomb as a Rebel. pic.twitter.com/Kqh4ETuVRv
— Ole Miss Baseball (@OleMissBSB) February 18, 2023
Third base seems secure with Ethan Lege. A transfer from Delgado (La.) Community College, he flashed his fielding prowess all night at the hot corner and also had a hit.
Freshman Will Furniss showed no rookie jitters as he homered in his first collegiate plate appearance.
First Collegiate At-Bat ➡️ First Collegiate Home Run
💣 @WillFurniss pic.twitter.com/Pg2LbrwTKR
— Ole Miss Baseball (@OleMissBSB) February 18, 2023
“I was just honestly looking for a base hit there,” the freshman from Nacogdoches, Texas, said.
“First at-bat as a college hitter you obviously don’t look to hit a home run or go up there thinking home run, but I got up there and got 0-2 and took a couple of good pitches, was honestly just looking to get a single out of it, widened my stance and ended up catching one good.“
Will Furniss on his first collegiate at-bat, a homer
Northwestern transfer Anthony Calarco had the unenviable job of replacing Elko at first base but responded well with a two-hit performance.
Freshman J.T. Quinn pitched an inning in relief and struck out a batter to show Ole Miss has depth in the bullpen.
Head coach Mike Bianco already likes the look of the team that has the task of following the first national championship team at Ole Miss.
“We’ve talked about it so much, it’s easy to look and go man, you lost Elko, you lost Graham, you lost Bench, you lost Dunhurst and that’s a lot of holes and that’s true. But then you look at the five we returned, they’re pretty good and then you add in Calarco, Groff and Lege, we’ve watched it all fall and early spring and one through nine we’re pretty solid.”
Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco
So, to answer Butch Cassidy’s classic question, “Who are those guys?”
They are the 2024 Ole Miss Rebels.
Young men, welcome to Oxford.
Steve Barnes
Steve Barnes joins The Rebel Walk staff as a senior writer and brings a trifecta of journalistic experience. As a writer, he has covered college sports for Rivals.com, Football.com and SaturdayDownSouth.com as well as served as a beat writer for various traditional newspapers.
He has been a broadcaster for arena football and several national tournament events for the National Junior College Athletic Association as well as hosting various shows on radio.
A former sports information director at Albany (Ga.) State University and an assistant at Troy and West Florida, he has helped host many NCAA conference, regional and national events, including serving five years on the media committee of the NCAA Division II World Series.
Barnes, a native of Pensacola, Fla., attended Ole Miss in 1983-84, where his first journalism teacher was David Kellum. The duo has come a long way since that time.
He will bring a proven journalistic track record, along with a knack for finding the out-of-the-ordinary story angles to The Rebel Walk.
Barnes continues to reside in Pensacola a mere ten minutes from the beach because he does have taste and a brain.
