NCAA Tournament Talk: What does Ole Miss baseball need to do to host a Regional in Oxford?

OXFORD, Miss. — Many are asking what Ole Miss baseball needs to do in order to host an NCAA Tournament regional. As Al Davis, the legendary owner of the old Oakland Raiders once said: “Just win, baby.” It’s likely that simple.

Currently, the Rebels are 33-15 overall and 13-11 in SEC play, and they head this weekend to Starkville to take on Mississippi State in a pivotal three-game series against their in-state rival. Ole Miss lost last weekend’s series, 2-1, to Oklahoma, giving themselves little margin for error when it comes to hosting.

As for State, the Bulldogs (29-19, 10-14) have won four straight games since the firing of former head coach Chris Lemonis last week.

National projections

Currently, D1Baseball projects Ole Miss to be a No. 2 seed that will play in a regional hosted by No. 7-overall seed North Carolina. No. 3 Iowa and No. 4 Holy Cross are also projected in that regional. Baseball America has the Rebels going to No. 9-overall seed Clemson’s regional. No. 3 Xavier and No. 4 Fairfield round out the field.

Current situation 

Ole Miss is No. 16 in RPI as of this writing, while State sits at No. 35. Sixteen teams host regionals in the NCAA tournament. (Click HERE for current RPI standings.)

After the Bulldogs, Ole Miss hosts UT-Martin and then finishes the regular season with Auburn (33-15, 13-11) at Swayze. The Tigers currently sit at No. 3 in RPI.

Sixteen teams are chosen to host regionals. Conventional wisdom suggests that head coach Mike Bianco’s team needs to win four of its six remaining SEC games, as well as beat UT Martin, in order to have a shot at hosting.

With Auburn having an identical record to the Rebels, that regular-season ending series could determine whether it is Ole Miss or the Tigers who host. The Rebs and Auburn are tied with Oklahoma and Alabama for seventh in the SEC at 13-11. Those four are two games ahead of Florida and one game behind Tennessee and Vandy.

The SEC tournament goes to a new format this season where everyone in the league makes the postseason in Hoover; the top eight teams will begin playing Wednesday. All games are single elimination.

With six league games remaining, there are 10 SEC schools who are all within two games of one another. The Rebels could help their hosting case with a couple of wins in Hoover, but they’d prefer to wrap things up in the final two series.

Each SEC Team (listed in order of the standings) with their D1 Top 25 ranking, current RPI, and remaining schedule is below:

No. 1 Texas (19-5, No. 1 RPI): Florida, at Oklahoma

No. 7 Arkansas (17-7, No. 4 RPI) at LSU, Tennessee

No. 6 Georgia (15-9, No. 2 RPI): at Alabama, Texas A&M

No. 3 LSU (15-9, No. 8 RPI): Arkansas, at South Carolina

No. 15 Tennessee (14-10, No. 13 RPI): Vanderbilt, at Arkansas

No. 11 Vanderbilt (14-10, No. 5 RPI): at Tennessee, Kentucky

No. 23 Alabama (13-11, No. 12 RPI): Georgia, at Florida

No.17 Oklahoma (13-11, No. 21 RPI): at Kentucky, Texas

No. 8 Auburn (13-11, No. 3 RPI): South Carolina, at Ole Miss

No. 24 Ole Miss (13-11, No. 16 RPI): at MSU, Auburn

Florida (11-13, No. 18 RPI): at Texas, Alabama

Miss. State (10-14, No. 35 RPI): Ole Miss, at Missouri

Texas A&M (10-14, No. 36 RPI): Missouri, at Georgia

Kentucky (10-14, No. 41 RPI): Oklahoma, at Vanderbilt

South Carolina (5-19, No. 66 RPI): at Auburn, LSU

Missouri (0-24, No. 157 RPI): at Texas A&M, MSU

At the end of the day, Al Davis’ mantra rings true. The Rebels need to win four of their remaining six to be in the best position to host.  Their  series win over Vanderbilt remains impressive. The No. 11 Commodores are No. 5 in the RPI. While the Rebs lost 2-1 in a home series to Arkansas and Tennessee, Ole Miss was close to winning in both, with a late lead against the Vols in the series-determining game three. They’re truly right on the hosting bubble — with an opportunity in the final two series to make some noise.

Next Up: 

Ole Miss plays State in Starkville in a Friday-Saturday-Sunday series. First pitch Friday is set for 7:30 p.m, with Saturday’s game scheduled for a 2:00 p.m. start, and Sunday’s concluding with a 1:00 p.m. first pitch.