RIVALRY SERIES Rebels building off Ole Miss earns 1st rivalry series win vs. Bulldogs series win since 2015
MSU faces uncommon adversity: Loss to Rebels
OXFORD — Ole Miss baseball coach Mike Bianco OXFORD — The past seven Ole Miss baseball teams has been around the game too long to underestimate combined to win three NCAA regionals, an SEC tourna- the value of a happy dugout. ment title and a national championship. None of them
The Rebels looked like they might not ever smile won their SEC series against Mississippi State. again while spending the better part of three weeks Finally, the Rebels tasted victory over their in-state ri- getting smacked around by SEC and nonconference vals Sunday, securing a series win by run-ruling the Bulldogs foes alike. But after Ole Miss took a rivalry series 14-2 in the decisive third game at Swayze Field. from Mississippi State with walk-off victories on Saturday In a rivalry that glorifies the nonsensical and rejects and Sunday, the energy is back. logic, the Ole Miss team to finally stop the skid is one that
“Sports, and really life in general is like that. We’re is fighting for its season with five SEC weekends remain- all better when we’re feeling good, feeling confident,” ing. The Rebels (20-16, 5-10) carried a seven-game losing Bianco said Sunday. “And certainly, we looked like a streak into this clash with the Bulldogs (22-14, 7-8) and confident team today.” nabbed the series win they were desperate for.
On Friday, the Rebels looked like they might let a season already teetering on the brink tumble over the edge of the cliff into irrelevance. Bianco believed they had lacked toughness in a limp effort that resulted in an 8-0 loss to the Bulldogs — Ole Miss’ eighth consec- utive overall defeat.
The storm of negativity that engulfed the 2023 season seemed like it had made landfall.
Mason Nichols drives Ole Miss baseball forward
Injuries and underperformance forced Ole Miss coach Mike Bianco to bring reliable reliever Mason Nichols into the starting rotation last week, with strong results.
So Bianco stuck with it this week. And Nichols reward- ed him with one of the best outings by an Ole Miss pitcher
OXFORD — Mississippi State baseball coaches have had to deal with overcoming lows. It comes with the nature of playing the game, even for a program such as MSU where national titles are annually an expectation.
Chris Lemonis is no exception. The second season of his coaching tenure was shortened due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Bulldogs responded by winning the program’s first national championship the following year. The last two seasons, Mississippi State (22-14, 7-8 SEC) has failed to make a postseason appearance. MSU has responded with a promising start to 2024.
However, since 2015, having to overcome a series loss against rival Ole Miss (20-16, 5-10) hasn’t been a concern for Mississippi State’s coaches.
That is no longer the case. After Sunday’s 14-2 loss in seven innings, Lemonis and the Bulldogs landed on the wrong side of the SEC’s most heated baseball rivalry.
“It is tougher,” Lemonis said. “But the reality is,
you’ve got to flush them.”
Perhaps more surprising than the result is the nature in which it happened.
Mississippi State dominated the opener, cruising to an 8-0 victory. The pitching was put in a pristine spot with starter Khal Stephen throwing eight of the nine innings.
The defeat gave Ole Miss its eighthstraight loss. With a loss Saturday to extend the skid to nine, the Rebels would’ve had their longest losing streak in coach Mike Bianco’s tenure which started in 2001.
It was headed that way. MSU lead by four runs in the eighth inning Saturday. The Bulldogs were six outs away from bragging rights yet again. Instead, Ole Miss rallied to tie it. The Rebels tied it again in the 11th after Hunter Hines hit a solo home run. And again Ole Miss rallied in the 12th, scoring two runs to negate a Johnny Long home run.
Mississippi State has proven it can overcome gut-punch defeats. But in the face of success, as the expected victor in the rivalry, the Bulldogs crumbled –
though Lemonis doesn’t think it was due to a poor effort.
“I thought our guys were still locked in,” Lemonis said. “It’s just rivalry. Nobody is putting their head down. Nobody is feeling sorry for themselves. Everybody wants to win so bad.”
There will be a simmered level of emotion in the remainder of the regular season for Mississippi State, but showing an ability to win amid raised expectations will be necessary.
Trips to Vanderbilt and Arkansas will be difficult. However, the other three SEC series are at Dudy Noble Field against Auburn, Alabama and Missouri. Those three have combined for 13 SEC wins this season and only two have come on the road.
A series loss against your biggest rival in mid-April doesn’t end a season. Ole Miss lost the series at Swayze Field in 2022, fell to 6-12 in SEC play and rallied to win a national title.
Mississippi State, albeit in a better position than that Ole Miss team, will need to dig deep to make the 2024 rendition of the rivalry series an easy one to forget in Starkville.
“They can’t stay with you,” Lemonis said. “We can’t go back and play it again. It’s over.”