Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco, pitcher Hunter Elliott talk Rebels’ 3-2 loss to Vandy in SEC Championship

HOOVER, Ala. – In a nail-biter that came down to the final out, Ole Miss came up just short in the SEC Championship Game Sunday at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium, falling 3-2 to Vanderbilt.

A crowd of 13,518—one of the largest ever for an SEC title game—witnessed the showdown. With the loss, the Rebels move to 40-19 on the season, while the Commodores improve to 43-16.

After the game, Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco and Hunter Elliott spoke with media. 

Hunter Elliott on Walker Hooks: Today was a big step for him, you know. I think he was able to slow the game down in a really big spot and give us quality outs that we’re going to need in the postseason.

Question: Hunter, you’re a Mississippi kid. What would it mean to you to to host the regional? That seems like that’s that’s where this is trending for you guys.

Hunter Elliott: Yeah. Uh, it would mean a lot. You know, I’ve never played postseason baseball in Oxford. I’ve heard it’s truly special. It will be one of the best environments in college baseball next weekend. But, yeah, just just me being from Mississippi, you know, I grew up going to a ton of games. going to some really cool postseason games. And it  will mean the world for me to play in one.

Question: Mike, I’m sure you’re a little disappointed with today’s result, but looking at your body of work this week in Hoover as a whole, how much, i don’t want to say better, but how do you feel about your team’s performance here and also now heading towards the postseason?

Mike Bianco: I said it a little bit in the opening statement but echo what I think Hunter said.  We’ve liked our team all year long. We liked our team at the very beginning. And this is a team that’s played a really consistent year. Not a lot of ups and downs. I’ve said it throughout the week, you know, similar questions. This is a team that, you know, there’s been certain games that we haven’t played well in certain weekends, we haven’t played well, but the team hasn’t been swept all year. We’ve been pretty consistent. And, when we’ve had a bad game or bad weekend, this team has responded. And so I say all of that because this was a confident group coming in here. But when you’re on this stage and you’re playing these teams, day in and day out, and I think that’s one of the cool things about this tournament that’s probably not talked about a lot. It’s just the publicity, the media that’s here, the importance that’s put on this and the stage. And if you look over to the course of the week and watch how guys pitch in this environment, hitting this environment, this really prepares you. There’s no other league through the ten week gauntlet. And then of course this week, you know here in Hoover, that prepares you more for postseason. So I know we’re disappointed in the outcome today. But we lost to a really good club. Number one RPI team in the country, I was told prior to the game. And so I’m sure they kept that standing with a win today and, we just came up a little bit short but feel really good about our club. We’ll get over this. We’ll shower well, and we’ll be ready for next weekend.

Question: Mike, just take me through the decision for Walker today. What did you like about him. And a little more on his outing.

Mike Bianco: Yeah, you know all the guys pitched great. You know, first, two freshmen and a sophomore in Calhoun. They were outstanding. And, we really leaned on the bullpen this week because we knew we needed to win games. And, you know, obviously, we know all the questions and all of that. We know what’s in front of us. But the best thing that you can do is win your games. And so we tried really hard to win that game. And in doing so, you got Spence that was out there three times, McCausland, they got hot, and then pitched twice more. That gave some length and did all that. So today was going to be one of those days where guys we like and guys we trust, but maybe not the headliner names, and it started with Hooks. We liked it left handed against the Vanderbilt team. He pitched well in the game that they beat us up. You know, we won two out of three in Oxford but got beat up on that game three. And he was the only one that really pitched well in that day, so we’re hopeful that he could find a little bit of that magic again today. And he did. Johnson, tournament MVP and a really good player in his own right, got a fastball and got it out to left. But really beyond that, he was terrific. But I thought Rabe, as Hunter said, and Calhoun were terrific as well.

Question: Having been through it now, what are your initial impressions on this new 16 team single elimination format?

Mike Bianco: It was kind of a split vote. You know, I think for the coaches, we’ve always had the best tournament in the country because of Hoover, because of the importance, all the things I mentioned just a few minutes ago. I was a little nervous about it, to be honest with you. But the crowds were great. The teams that have had the best years, the top four seeds, and then the next four seeds were rewarded for that. And they should, in our league. Because it’s such a gauntlet to get through those ten weeks, I would think it was a huge success. I mean, I get it, and it’s one where it’s a little more digestible. I think that’s what people liked is you got all 16 teams here. We’ve been a, I think it was 19 that we played on Tuesday and made it to Sunday. That’s a long week, you know, and, uh, you know, you spend a lot of pitchers and you worry about that. And so this may be the happy sweet spot, if you will. But, you know, I thought it was an overall success.

Question: What went into the decision, Mike, to pinch hit Colin there in the seventh inning? Was it just matchup based for you?

Mike Bianco: Yeah. he might be our best bat against left handed pitching, you know, in our lineup. His splits, you know, he’s going into this weekend, he hits 400. I mean, that’s not a secret to the opponent, but it’s one of the bullets i think that you keep in your holster and try to use. And we felt with just three innings remaining and really seven outs left, with a runner in scoring position, it probably wouldn’t have done it if there wasn’t a runner in scoring position to pull the shortstop, but got confidence in Randle that he can handle it just as well. And so, you know, you try to get another run on the board.