Diamond Rebels Start Fall World Series Wednesday

Photo courtesy of Peyton Spear

OXFORD, Miss. – The Ole Miss baseball team will wrap up its fall practice this week with its annual Fall World Series at Oxford-University Stadium/Swayze Field beginning with game one Wednesdayafternoon.

The Rebel roster will be divided in two with the squads competing against each other for bragging rights in a best-of-three series. Game one begins at 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday and is open to the public. Game times for game two and three (if necessary) are yet to be determined.

The Fall World Series is the culmination of the team’s fall practice that began back in September and has seen a group of 19 newcomers and 22 freshmen working toward the upcoming season. The crop of newcomers comprises yet another nationally-ranked recruiting class for Ole Miss as Baseball America recently tabbed the group as the eighth-ranked class in the country. It marks the 10th nationally-ranked recruiting class for the Rebels in the 13 years under head coach Mike Bianco.

Ole Miss is coming off a 38-24 mark last year that saw the Rebels advance to the NCAA Tournament for the 11th time in the last 13 seasons and gave the program its 18th NCAA Tournament appearance in the history of the school. The Rebels are one of only 16 teams in NCAA Division I baseball to have advanced to a regional in 11 of the last 13 years out of the 298 schools that compete in baseball at that level.

The Rebels will look to make it a 12th regional appearance in the 2014 season with a group of six starters returning in the field to go along with the highly rated recruiting class that will take the field in February.

Ole Miss opens the 2014 campaign on Feb. 14 with the first game in a three-game series at Stetson. The Rebels will host 32 home games in the 2014 season, including five home series in Southeastern Conference play against Arkansas, Auburn, Georgia, LSU and Missouri. The schedule also features a home non-conference series against UCF.

— Bill Bunting, Ole Miss Sports Information