Ole Miss Head Coach Mike Bianco Announces Friday Starter, Offers Updates Before Oxford Regional

OXFORD, Miss. — Ahead of the first Oxford Regional since 2021, Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco previewed the weekend with brief updates on pitching plans, roster health and last year’s portal strategy as the Rebels prepare for postseason play.

📍 Oxford, MS pic.twitter.com/nvJSQhj5Bd

— Ole Miss Baseball (@OleMissBSB) May 29, 2025

Throughout the week, one of the main talking points around the Ole Miss baseball program has been who the starter will be on Friday, May 30, against the Murray State Racers. The obvious answer would have been usual Friday night starter Hunter Elliott, but the thought of saving the southpaw for Saturday’s game has been thrown around.

Bianco opened with informing the media that it will be senior Riley Maddox getting the game one start for Ole Miss; claiming that the plan works better for the Rebels’ weekend strategy.

“We just looked at it all and thought it worked best through all three games. I think first you just want to take it one game at a time, but a lot of the spilts and things you look at were similar for all three clubs.”

~ Bianco on starting Riley Maddox in game one

Still on the topic of the Ole Miss pitching staff, Bianco praised junior transfer Will McCausland for his progress in 2025. Although not quite bursting onto the scene for the Rebels, McCausland became one of the more dominant bullpen arms in the SEC in the back half of the season. The righty did not allow a run over the course of his last five outings with 5.1 innings of work and eight strikeouts.

Bianco knew it was only a matter of time before McCausland caught fire, especially with addition of pitching coach Joel Mangrum.

“He’s a kid that that performed really well before he got here; he had a great Fall. I thought at the beginning of the year he was a little tentative. It doesn’t matter sometimes where you have been or how much success (you had) when you come to a different place. He’s pitched with a lot more confidence — the stuff has ticked up, even from the Fall, but I think the biggest thing has been his aggressiveness to attack hitters — his body language and attitude. He’s been terrific; the second half of the season he has been unbelievable for us.” 

~ Bianco on Will McCausland

Bianco also gave an injury update for the two players that sat out for Ole Miss during the SEC Tournament: starting pitcher Mason Nichols and right fielder Ryan Moerman.

Nichols left the final regular season game of the season against the Auburn Tigers rather quickly with what looked to be an unfortunate injury. Luckily for the Mississippi native, an oblique injury was diagnosed and rest was all that was needed. Heading into the weekend, Bianco expects the starter to be available in some capacity.

“(Mason) Nichols threw a bullpen yesterday; ironically, I did not see him today. He will be in the training room this afternoon. As I said earlier in the week, I would be surprised if both of those guys aren’t on the field in some capacity. Now what that looks like, it’s still day-to-day. Nichols hadn’t thrown through yesterday, we will see how he recovers from that.”

~ Bianco on Mason Nichols

Similar for Moerman, Bianco is confident that the corner outfielder will be suited up and playing for the Rebels in the Oxford Regional. However, the injury to Moerman could be lingering.

“(Ryan) Moerman, better but it still bothers him. He’s in a brace, but he’s come a long way. He is taking BP — shagging balls in the outfield but if you watch real close there is a limp there. Watched him run the bases yesterday, he was better than we thought. Each day he just continues to get better and that is what they said it would be.”

~ Bianco on Ryan Moerman

When Moerman collided with centerfielder Isaac Humphrey in the gap during the SEC tournament, the broadcast claimed that it looked like a car crash. Although Humphrey finished the game for the Rebels, Bianco claims that the centerfielder definitely had some soreness throughout the week.

Humphrey is one of the gems that the Rebels locked up in last year’s portal class, and while everyone knew what type of talent he brought to the plate, it was quite the surprise finding out how good of an outfielder he really was. Bianco stated that Humphrey may not be your typical SEC outfielder, but he makes his job look easy.

“We didn’t think he (Humphrey) would be a negative out there, but you can see how comfortable he is. As you watch him take routes after balls and how easy he makes it seem; he’s not your prototypical guy running a 6.4-6.5 60 that can fly in the SEC in centerfield but he gets to a lot of balls and makes a lot of plays look easy.”

~ Bianco on Isaac Humphrey’s outfield success

The Rebels returned a handful of talent from the 2024 roster, and that has been a talking point all season long. However, it was the job done in the transfer portal that has seemingly propelled Ole Miss back into the national spotlight. Bianco jokingly said it was good decisions made by him to land those players, but gave a lot of credit to assistant coach Carl Lafferty.

“Sometimes even when it looks like you missed, you might not have missed. Sometimes it just takes a guy a year or two, but in the era of the portal you need kids to impact immediately. A lot of credit has to go to Carl Lafferty. The portal, not to go way down that path today, it changes. It changes week to week on what guys you are getting, what guys are still out there — in last year’s portal, we knew we needed some impact hitters. So, we went after some older guys. We risked it a little with the draft because a lot of those guys may have not made it here. We signed three guys in the outfield from power five schools that have had success at this level. It was a good plan and it worked.” 

~ Bianco on the Rebels’ transfer portal strategy in 2024

Up next

The Rebels will open the Oxford Regional on Friday, May 3o, against a familiar opponent in the Murray State Racers. First pitch is scheduled for 7 p.m. CT at Swayze Field and will be streamed on ESPN+.