Ole Miss Head Coach Mike Bianco Looks Ahead to Auburn Super Regional
OXFORD, Miss. — Head coach Mike Bianco met with media Tuesday as Ole Miss prepares to take on the Auburn Tigers in Super Regional action on the Plains this weekend.
Ole Miss is coming off sweeping the Lincoln Regional to get to this point on the Road to Omaha behind a strong performance from the Rebel bullpen.
“They obviously were terrific,” Bianco said.
“Like they have been most of the year, and I think sometimes when you just look at the snapshots, sometimes you just see some of the warts. We say that a lot about them because we see them every single day, but everybody has issues, everybody loses, everybody has some negative things, but our guys have been really good, and you were just talking to two of them, with (Walker) Hooks and (Hudson) Calhoun, they were terrific. I think in a regional, really anywhere in the post-season, we mentioned it to the team that you need your stars to be stars and show up.”
Mike Bianco on the Ole Miss bullpen
This past Saturday, in the winner’s bracket game against Nebraska, Taylor Rabe had a big moment on the mound in the sixth inning.
“It was huge,” Bianco began.
“How Rabe handled the situation, and if you had to pick a moment of when we played over the 30-plus innings, the most pivotal was that one. Not just because of where you were, you win this, you are 2-0 and in the driver’s seat on the road, as electric as that crowd was, but fortunately, we had an ace on the mound at that time. Those are sometimes when we say stars have to be stars, and then you need some other guys, but he’s certainly one of our stars, and he answered the bell. Not sure if we get through it without his effort.”
Mike Bianco on Taylor Rabe
Owen Paino has made some big plays at shortstop over the last month.
“He’s sensational,” Bianco said. “He’s so good, and I think I said it a month or two ago. I’m glad that everybody gets to see it now. We’ve watched it for two years. (Mike) Clement made a comment that he had seen, but didn’t know if it was on the internet or rewatching the game of the backhand play in whatever would have been deep sixth, seventh inning, when (Wil) Libert was on the mound, in game three. There was a sensational play up the middle that really saved a run in game one against Arizona State in the first,” the Ole Miss skipper added.
This season, Ole Miss and Auburn have not met on the diamond for a series, and Bianco has not seen much cut-ups on them.
“Almost never,” Bianco said. “Just a few at-bats here, and sometimes the opposite of who they’re playing, but you’re not really watching them, so over the next couple of days, we’ve got plenty of time to do that. I know the coaches have started to dive into it this morning.”
Bianco continued, noting his team is playing a very good opponent.
“You know they are really good and do things really well and, most importantly, the pitch is better than anybody in our league. That’s not to take anything away from the offense. I think the offense is certainly good. They hit homers, they steal bases, and they bunt a little bit. Another really good opponent on the road.”
Bianco talked about his message to the team as the players prepare to face Auburn.
“The message for me was to get some sleep. This was a tough weekend, physically, I think for everybody. Not just from physically on the field but the late nights and stuff that we’re not used to. Not knowing the opponents and those types of things. So, you go to bed and have to wake up the next morning. We’re always worried about how much sleep the players get, which is the most important thing. Then you get back on Monday and you sit down in a meeting, once you get back to the office, and it’s tiresome. So they got some rest on Monday and then went back to work to really check (Auburn) out.”
Next Up
Ole Miss and Auburn will get underway on Friday night. The first pitch is set for 7 p.m. and can be seen on ESPN2.
Adam Brown
Adam Brown returns to The Rebel Walk after being on the Ole Miss beat as a Sports Editor for over 13 years. He is a lifelong Oxford resident. Brown graduated from the University of Mississippi with a bachelor’s degree in journalism.
Prior to The Rebel Walk, Brown was the sports editor of HottyToddy.com covering every Ole Miss sport and local high school sports in the community.
