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Ole Miss baseball is back in Omaha for the first time since 2022.
The Rebels (41-21) will take on No. 5 North Carolina (50-12-1) in the College World Series opener on June 12 (6 p.m. CT, ESPN) at Omaha's Charles Schwab Field.
Ole Miss is in Omaha for the first time since its national title in 2022. The Rebels advanced by defeating Nebraska and Arizona State in the Lincoln Regional and sweeping the Auburn Super Regional.
The other teams in the Rebels' bracket are No. 16 West Virginia and Troy. On the opposite side of the bracket are No. 3 Georgia, No. 6 Texas, No. 7 Alabama and Oklahoma.
Here are five stats that could determine Ole Miss' fate:
While the Rebels have flown under the radar compared to other teams that have bigger names, you could argue that Ole Miss has the best pitching staff among the eight teams in Omaha.
The Rebels are the only team in the field with two pitchers ranked as top-100 draft prospects for 2026 by MLB Pipeline (Cade Townsend and Taylor Rabe), and closer Walker Hooks was a first-team All-SEC selection.
Though Ole Miss' team ERA of 4.35 is behind four other teams in the field, advanced metrics like the Rebels better. Ole Miss' strikeout-to-walk ratio of 3.31 was fifth nationally, behind only Texas in the Omaha field. No other team remaining is in the top 30.
Ole Miss will play its opening game against North Carolina. Those two teams are the only ones in Omaha with multiple players who have played in the College World Series.
For Ole Miss, those players are Hunter Elliott, one of the anchors of the 2022 national championship team, and Dom Decker, who played with Murray State a year ago. All three of North Carolina's players with Omaha experience played for its 2024 team: pitchers Jason DeCaro and Matthew Matthijs and infielder Gavin Gallaher.
The only other players in the College World Series who have played in Omaha before are Texas pitcher Luke Harrison (Longhorns in 2022) and Georgia pitcher Matt Scott (Stanford in 2023).
Schwab Field is known as a pitchers park that favors teams that don't need to hit the ball out of the ballpark to score. That's not Ole Miss, which has relied heavily on the long ball.
The Rebels' 107 home runs are second among teams in the field to only Georgia. But Ole Miss also has by far the highest strikeout rate in the field at 26.7%. The next-worst is Alabama at 23.1%.
Tristan Bissetta and Judd Utermark, who have 22 and 21 home runs, respectively, have the power to hit the ball out of any ballpark. But no one else is over 13 homers, and just two lineup regulars (Utermark and Will Furniss) are hitting over .300. That's tied with Alabama and North Carolina for the fewest .300 hitters among teams in Omaha.
Ole Miss has yet to lose a game in the postseason, sweeping through both the regional and super regional.
The last team to win a national title while being undefeated before the College World Series was LSU in 2023. The last team to go undefeated in the entire postseason was UCLA in 2013.
The Rebels' 2022 national championship team was also undefeated before Omaha.
Ole Miss has gone to the College World Series six times previously, but just twice under the current format.
The Rebels had a 2-2 record in their first CWS in 1956, an 0-2 record in 1964, a 1-2 record in 1969 and an 0-2 record in 1972.
After that, Ole Miss didn't return to the College World Series until 2014. The Rebels had a 2-2 record that season, making the semifinals but losing there. They finally broke through with their first national title in 2022.
Contact Aria Gerson at [email protected] or on X @aria_gerson.
This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: How Ole Miss baseball stacks up against College World Series bracket
Continue reading...
The Rebels (41-21) will take on No. 5 North Carolina (50-12-1) in the College World Series opener on June 12 (6 p.m. CT, ESPN) at Omaha's Charles Schwab Field.
Ole Miss is in Omaha for the first time since its national title in 2022. The Rebels advanced by defeating Nebraska and Arizona State in the Lincoln Regional and sweeping the Auburn Super Regional.
The other teams in the Rebels' bracket are No. 16 West Virginia and Troy. On the opposite side of the bracket are No. 3 Georgia, No. 6 Texas, No. 7 Alabama and Oklahoma.
Here are five stats that could determine Ole Miss' fate:
Does Ole Miss have the best pitching staff in Omaha?
While the Rebels have flown under the radar compared to other teams that have bigger names, you could argue that Ole Miss has the best pitching staff among the eight teams in Omaha.
The Rebels are the only team in the field with two pitchers ranked as top-100 draft prospects for 2026 by MLB Pipeline (Cade Townsend and Taylor Rabe), and closer Walker Hooks was a first-team All-SEC selection.
Though Ole Miss' team ERA of 4.35 is behind four other teams in the field, advanced metrics like the Rebels better. Ole Miss' strikeout-to-walk ratio of 3.31 was fifth nationally, behind only Texas in the Omaha field. No other team remaining is in the top 30.
Ole Miss vs North Carolina will have the most Omaha experience
Ole Miss will play its opening game against North Carolina. Those two teams are the only ones in Omaha with multiple players who have played in the College World Series.
For Ole Miss, those players are Hunter Elliott, one of the anchors of the 2022 national championship team, and Dom Decker, who played with Murray State a year ago. All three of North Carolina's players with Omaha experience played for its 2024 team: pitchers Jason DeCaro and Matthew Matthijs and infielder Gavin Gallaher.
The only other players in the College World Series who have played in Omaha before are Texas pitcher Luke Harrison (Longhorns in 2022) and Georgia pitcher Matt Scott (Stanford in 2023).
Ole Miss offense will face test with Charles Schwab Field
Schwab Field is known as a pitchers park that favors teams that don't need to hit the ball out of the ballpark to score. That's not Ole Miss, which has relied heavily on the long ball.
The Rebels' 107 home runs are second among teams in the field to only Georgia. But Ole Miss also has by far the highest strikeout rate in the field at 26.7%. The next-worst is Alabama at 23.1%.
Tristan Bissetta and Judd Utermark, who have 22 and 21 home runs, respectively, have the power to hit the ball out of any ballpark. But no one else is over 13 homers, and just two lineup regulars (Utermark and Will Furniss) are hitting over .300. That's tied with Alabama and North Carolina for the fewest .300 hitters among teams in Omaha.
Ole Miss is undefeated in postseason. What does that mean?
Ole Miss has yet to lose a game in the postseason, sweeping through both the regional and super regional.
The last team to win a national title while being undefeated before the College World Series was LSU in 2023. The last team to go undefeated in the entire postseason was UCLA in 2013.
The Rebels' 2022 national championship team was also undefeated before Omaha.
Ole Miss baseball College World Series history
Ole Miss has gone to the College World Series six times previously, but just twice under the current format.
The Rebels had a 2-2 record in their first CWS in 1956, an 0-2 record in 1964, a 1-2 record in 1969 and an 0-2 record in 1972.
After that, Ole Miss didn't return to the College World Series until 2014. The Rebels had a 2-2 record that season, making the semifinals but losing there. They finally broke through with their first national title in 2022.
Contact Aria Gerson at [email protected] or on X @aria_gerson.
This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: How Ole Miss baseball stacks up against College World Series bracket
Continue reading...
