TRANSCRIPT: Everything Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco, Will Furniss and Connor Spencer said after 2-0 win over LSU in SEC Tourney

HOOVER, Ala. – No. 17 Ole Miss (40-18) shut out the No. 1 LSU Tigers (43-14) 2-0 Saturday afternoon in the semifinals of the SEC Tournament to advance to the Championship game for the first time since 2019.

The Rebels will face Vanderbilt in the title game Sunday with first pitch set for noon CT.

After the game, head coach Mike Bianco, infielder Will Furniss and pitcher Connor Spencer talked with media. Here’s a transcript of everything they said.

Coach Bianco’s Opening Statement

You know, obviously another really good baseball game, I thought, by both teams. You know, one of those pitching duels.  I thought both teams pitched it outstanding. And we got a big home run by Will in the first and a couple hits in an inning with a big base hit by Smithwick to get us two. That usually doesn’t do it. You know, it’s usually not enough, but, I really think the story of the game was us on the mound, obviously a true freshman in Cade Townsend, to pitch four and two thirds against a very, very good offense in this environment which is different than a lot of places, especially conference tournaments and it was it was loud there today. So, for Cade to perform like that, his best outing of the year, we tried to prime him for that, made a lot of midweek starts, but nothing like today. So for him to perform like that. And then, of course, Spence at the end who’s just been lights out. And so just proud of our guys and we’ll rest up and get ready for another good team tomorrow in Vanderbilt.

Question: For Will, what was the pitch you recognized during your at bat? And also just trying to help the offense with Mitchell and Luke striking out to start the game?

Will Furniss: I was actually sitting fastball, but he threw me a hanging slider, and I just saw it out of hand. He left it over the plate, and I just honestly tried to hit it hard. I didn’t really think it was going to get out today because of the wind. But you know it somehow it got out.

Question: This one’s for Connor. Like Mike was saying, there’s a ton of LSU fans here. I mean, everyone kind of saw purple everywhere. Not to discredit Ole Miss fans, but to pitch in the ninth inning, game on the line. Take me through that moment and what that final out was like for you.

Connor: I mean, yeah, you know. It’s it’s awesome. Those are the kind of moments that that I really live for. As a closer, I feel like that’s kind of where I thrive at that last three outs of the game. And it did get very loud with two outs and after I walked the guy. I couldn’t really hear my pitch comin, so I was trying to make sure that they were. I was trying make sure I was throwing the right pitches before anything else. But no, to do that and especially, you know, against a really good team like that, you know, it’s it’s awesome.

Question: I do want to ask you about this pitching staff — unreal performances this week and really done well to close out the season. What’s been different the last couple of weeks, and kind of how do you feel heading into the Championship and also the rest of the postseason?

Connor: I mean, yeah, you know, we don’t have to worry about school anymore, which helps a lot. So we really get to focus on just baseball. I really think the biggest thing the pitching staff has kind of been doing lately is really, really hanging out together and just coming together. Uh, for, for the most part, you know, we’re always hanging out with each other, even outside of the field. And we’re not just teammates, we’re buddies. And I think that really helps for encouraging guys who, whenever they do go out there, and you also kind of get a realization for what makes people tick. And you can kind of say the right things to them to get them in their right headspace, to go and compete the way that they’ve been doing all week.

Question: Connor: this one’s for you too — you’ve been pretty busy the last couple of days.How much does adrenaline help you at this time of year and getting you ready? And then as a pitcher, just what did you think of Cade Townsend today? Did you know that he had that kind of performance in him.

Connor: Oh, yeah. So Cade Townsend is my roommate on the road, actually. You know, he’s a little 19 year old freshman and I’m a 24 year old senior, so we get along just well. But, uh, I’ve kind of talked to him about what I’ve learned in college and what’s helped me, and to kind of almost feel like I’m his big brother and guiding him in a way that I feel if I had this, you know, all this energy pent up the way he does, kind of just straighten him out and be able to kind of use that to go and perform the way he did. You know, I’ve seen it in him since the first day that I met him. You know, he’s always been one of my favorite little freshmen and yeah, he’s just he’s a really good dude and a really good competitor, too.

Question: Will, I think you said out there on TV that you’ve been in this program for three years, but you said this team feels different. Can you expound on that a little bit?

Will Furniss: we’re really together. The last couple of years doesn’t seem like we’ve had a bunch of fight. And, you know, when we get down, we we just kind of give up or, you know, we ride the ups and downs too much. You know, we don’t stay even keel. This this group is older. And, you know, I think we’re honestly tighter. And when things go bad, we don’t dip too low. And when things are going good, we don’t go too high. And I think that’s the recipe for success. Like Coach B says, you know, so just a very mature group of guys and we’re all kind of like family. So it’s, it’s good to have this group with us.

Question: Will, with what Connor’s done here in Hoover, but also just all season, what sort of comfort does that bring an offense? To have a guy like that coming out in the ninth?

Will Furniss: Oh it’s awesome. You know, the offense will sometimes joke around, you know, as long as we have the lead going in the ninth, we’re going to be good because we got this guy in the bullpen. So it’s really comforting, you know, especially, you know, seeing him jog out of the bullpen. It’s you know “Enter Sandman” comes on. It’s freaking sweet. It’s cool. It’s a cool song. And it gets me pumped up and I know gets him pumped up too. But you know, not only that, he’s really good up there, and I don’t really know many pitchers that can just throw fastballs and shove it down somebody’s throat, especially the good teams that we face. But he can do it. And he does it every time.

Question: Also just your thoughts on what Gunnar gave you today and in the middle part of that game and maybe one of his better performances recently.

Coach Bianco: It really was. And that that was a huge performance and probably gets lost in it and a lot of kudos to to Cade and the start, which he deserves. And of course, Spence at the end. But the two guys in the middle were special,  Gunnar and McCausland bouncing back from maybe a little rough outing yesterday. I thought he was really sharp. You know, big change up today, which we, we felt, would work well against that that lineup at least if we could get 5 or 6 outs from them. Sometimes the plan doesn’t go quite like you planned it. But today it did. You know, we were hopeful to get Townsend for 4 or 5 to let him handle some adversity out there, not go too quick to the pen. But we wanted to go left handed after that and kind of switch it up a little bit and obviously wanted to go to a veteran guy like Dennis. I thought he was terrific.

Question: I do want to ask you a similar question. What was the message to these guys the last couple of weeks to get this pitching staff rolling and ready here in Hoover?

Coach Bianco: Well, obviously the credit goes to the players. They’re the ones out there throwing and performing. But, a lot of credit has got to go to Joe Mangrum and we said it yesterday in the press conference here, how well we’ve pitched it down the stretch, not even down the stretch like a week or two, but how strong we’ve been on the mound the second half of conference play on, on both sides from the starting pitchers to the bullpen and even with an injury to Brayden Jones we’ve been able to sustain that. And so, they just continue to get better and better. I think Spence is real sincere in that, how they’re close, they pull for one another, and that’s neat. There’s a lot of guys in baseball, in baseball, that staff, you’re going to hand the ball off to a lot of different people. And knowing that you have each other’s back, you know, sometimes makes the biggest difference in the world.

Question: Mike, your team has knocked off two of the best teams. Not just in the SEC, but in all of college baseball. What was the message to the group after? I mean, another big win. That’s three in the last four days.

Coach Bianco: Well, we just want to continue to play well. And I know it sounds like coach speak, but it’s really not about who you’re playing. We feel we’re pretty good as well. And when we play well, we can play with anybody in the country. And, one of the things that we’ve talked about for a long time now is can we play consistently well over a period of time? Baseball’s a tough game to do that. But, this team’s done it now for a few weeks.

Question: Mike, what did you think of, uh, LSU’s pitchers there, particularly the last two?

Bianco: They were terrific. I thought they pitched it well. I mean, when you look at this game after them pitching their one and two yesterday, to go what they did and really it’s a home run and a couple base hits spaced between an error, that’s the only two runs of the game. And so, we win, we get a lot of credit for the way we pitched it. But man, they pitched it just as well as we did.

Question: Cade Townsend’s had his ups and downs this year. Um, what gave you the confidence to put him on this sort of stage? Is it the stuff or is it the temperament combination of both?

Coach Bianco: I think it’s everything. Uh. It’s tough. This league is tough for freshmen. You know, it’s tough for anybody, but it’s especially tough for freshmen to come in with the high expectations that Cade did. And we’ve talked about this throughout the year. Certainly it’s not hard to see the stuff when he goes out there. But just to be consistent and when you watch him week in and week out on those Tuesdays and he’s pitched well, but usually it’s an inning that gets him, right? You know, it’s not that he can’t handle the moment. It’s not that he’s not good enough to do this at its highest level on the weekend against a top five team. But can you make a pitch and get off the field? And he did that a couple of times today in a big environment, tough environment. And for that we’re really proud of him because that’s the growth that you’re seeing. And he’s the guy that you expect it, one day he’s going to be a weekend starter, a Friday night starter in a Southeastern Conference.

Question: Coach, how did you feel about, Austin’s performance today behind the dish? And just, you know, how he pretty much helped the pitching staff out today with the shutout win?

Coach Bianco: Yeah, he’s he’s terrific. And, I don’t know if it was his 17th or something like that home run yesterday. He was sitting up here and we’re certainly glad for all of those 17 home runs. But it goes really unnoticed. And that’s kind of the catching position. You know, the catchers are usually the the offensive linemen. People really don’t notice them unless they they miss a ball or something bad happens. But watch him throughout the game, the 150 pitches that he catches every game, and how many balls he blocks, how many strikes that he gets us and doesn’t gets ball. You know, he’s as good as anybody in the country at receiving, meaning getting balls called strikes and keeping strikes, strikes. He does it very, very well. And then you saw his arm today. He’s been outstanding all year long.

Question: You know, the players cited their closeness. But from your angle, what do you think has contributed to the rise that this program has experienced this year, after the way the last two years have went to be back where you guys are at now?

Bianco: I said it yesterday. I think it starts with the older guys especially, the four Mississippi guys, Spence included, but along with Elliott, Maddox and Nichols, four old guys that could have been drafted and signed and moved on last year, but they decided to come back. They didn’t want — three of them have a national championship ring, three of them were in that dugout in Omaha in ’22 — And I think the last couple years have left with a lot of people, a real bitter taste in their mouth. And they didn’t want to go out that way. And so, they’ve they’ve made it their mission, because in ’22 they were freshmen; now they’re the old guys. And so I credit them with the great leadership. But then also a lot of other guys like Fawley and Moerman and Humphrey and Sanford and other guys that came from other programs that have meshed into this culture and this team, and not only have been great teammates, but also have shown leadership. And leadership comes in a lot of different ways. And so, I’ve said it yesterday that older teams win in our league. And this is an old team.

Question: Uh, I guess sort of on that, but with what Will and Connor said about this team just finding a closeness that’s that’s been fostered. What examples of that do you see? Um, and what about that is so beneficial for a tournament like this or NCAA tournament, that kind of chemistry?

Coach Bianco: Chemistry, leadership, those are essential to success. But a lot of times, those are questions usually answered at the end. As our beat writers know, a lot of people ask about that in the fall. And in the fall, everybody plays and you don’t win or lose, you know? But in the spring, all of a sudden only 9 or 10 guys play and you have 40 men on your roster. So that means 75% of the guys aren’t in that lineup today. And so once that starts to happen, you start to see what kind of team you have. And through the adversity, when you say example, the best example I can give you is we haven’t always been our best this year. There’s been games that we’d like to take back. There’s been weekends that we’d like to take back, but we never hit a stretch where we were just bad. We seemed to always recover. One of the mantras of the year has been “shower well,” and you know what that means? It’s a metaphor for win or lose today, shower well and let that win, let that loss go down the drain and show up tomorrow. You know, it’s a new day. And, so this team’s been able to really buy into that,  this team that even when we haven’t been at our best. And I think, Will said it, they they never seem too down; and they’re excited to win, certainly you know excited after tonight’s game. But they’ll be the same team tomorrow morning in the meetings. Same team tomorrow in batting practice. And those teams seem to find success more often.