Ole Miss Baseball defeated Vanderbilt in the SEC Tournament on May 22nd, 2014 in Hoover, AL.
OXFORD, Miss. – One day after being named one of 16 host sites for the NCAA Baseball Tournament, Ole Miss learned Monday of the three teams it will be hosting. The NCAA announced Washington, Georgia Tech and Jacksonville State will join the Rebels at Oxford-University Stadium/Swayze Field with games being played Friday-Sunday, and Monday if necessary.
Washington (39-15-1), the regional’s No. 2 seed, and Georgia Tech (36-25), the No. 3 seed, will open play in the Oxford Regional on Friday at 3 p.m. CT. Ole Miss (41-18), the regional’s top seed, will then face the regional’s No. 4 seed, Jacksonville State (36-25), at 7 p.m. CT. A complete schedule for the regional is listed below. Both games Friday will be available on ESPN3.
“We’re excited to be playing at home in June,” Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco said. “It’s certainly a great reward, but one that we feel is very deserved by this team that has played so well and consistently over the course of the season. It’s great to have baseball in Oxford in June again to reward the Rebel Nation for the support they has shown us and the role they play in our success.”
Tickets
Tickets for the tournament will be available in all areas of the stadium. Ticket books for general admission will be sold for $60, reserved seating will be $70, box seating will be $80 and Diamond Club seating will be $200. Each ticket book gains admission to every game of the Oxford Regional.
The Ole Miss Athletics Ticket Office is open daily 8:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. at the Tad Smith Coliseum. The ticket office will be closed Monday in observance of Memorial Day. Fans may order their regional tickets online via OleMissTix.com if they wish to order Sunday, Monday or after hours. Contact the ticket office at 888-REB-TKTS for more information.
The priority deadline for season ticket holders will be Wednesday at 12 p.m. CT.
Pending availability, single game tickets will go on sale Thursday online at OleMissTix.com or by phone. Box seats will sell for $20, while general admission and grandstand tickets are $15, and student tickets (college age or younger) are $10.
Single game tickets will be available for Will Call pick up Friday at the Tad Smith Coliseum until the middle of the 5th inning of the second game. Beginning Saturday, all tickets will be picked up at the Swayze Field box office. There, tickets will be open two hours prior to the first game each day and will remain open until the middle of the 5th inning of the day’s last game.
Parking
Parking passes will only be sold to those fans that held them during the regular season. If any remain, those will be available on game day for $20 each. Cash only.
Free general parking is permitted at the South Lot located at Taylor Road and highway 6. As a reminder, the Old Taylor Road bridge is under construction and closed, including all exit ramps. To enter campus from highway 6 you will need to take either the Coliseum Drive or Lamar Avenue exits.
Regular parking enforcement outside of designated baseball parking pass lots and the South Lot will be in affect Monday-Friday 7:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Campus patrons parking outside of the designated baseball lots are subject to citations.
Teams
Ole Miss, the 10th ranked team in the country, is hosting its sixth regional in program history, and is making its 12th postseason appearance of the 14-year Bianco era. All six times the Rebels have hosted a regional have come under Bianco’s tenure.
The Rebels led the Southeastern Conference in batting average (.303), were third in the league in scoring (359) and fourth in home runs (36) this season. Ole Miss was second in the league in both slugging percentage (.417) and on-base percentage (.370), and the Rebels’ 2.76 team ERA was fifth in the highly competitive SEC, which set a record with 10 teams selected for the NCAA Tournament this year.
Three Rebels ranked in the top five of the SEC in hits this season. Junior outfielder Auston Bousfield led the conference with 87 hits, senior catcher Will Allen ranked second with 83 hits, and senior third baseman Austin Anderson finished in a tie for fifth with 76 hits.
Allen’s team-high .352 batting average was the second best in the SEC, while Bousfield’s .349 average was fourth in the league. Junior first baseman Sikes Orvis hit a team-high 12 home runs, which was the second most in the SEC.
On the mound, Ole Miss was led by Chris Ellis (9-1), Christian Trent (8-0) and Sam Smith (5-4). The Rebels’ weekend rotation held a 2.69 ERA, allowing 80 earned runs in 267.0 innings pitched. Ellis led the trio with a 2.17 ERA in 95.1 innings of work, while Trent posted a 2.44 ERA and Smith held a 3.58 ERA.
Ole Miss is 3-0 all-time vs. Jacksonville State, with the Rebels sweeping the Gamecocks in a three-game series to open the 2002 season. The Gamecocks, coached by Jim Case, won the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament Championship by becoming the first team in OVC history to win six straight elimination games in the tournament after losing their tournament opener.
Collectively, JSU held a .294 team batting average this season, with a .424 slugging percentage and a .372 on-base percentage. On the mound, the Gamecocks posted a team ERA of 4.56.
Senior outfielder Griff Gordon led Jacksonville State with a .376 batting average, a team-high seven home runs and 49 RBIs. Sophomore first baseman Paschal Petrongolo was third on the team with a .324 batting average, but led the team with 19 doubles and 53 RBIs.
Junior right-handed pitcher Zachary Fowler has a team-high seven wins for the Gamecocks, posting a 7-7 record with a team-high 88.0 innings pitched. Fowler pitched 7.2 innings in JSU’s OVC championship game victory over Tennessee Tech, allowing just five hits and striking out six. Junior relief pitcher Travis Stout, who picked up the save in that game, has 15 saves on the year, and has tied the school career record with 32 saves, which is also tied for the second most in OVC history.
The Rebels lost their lone meeting with Washington on June 5, 2004, by a 7-2 score in the Rebels’ first-ever time hosting an NCAA regional. Washington finished second in the Pac-12 Conference standings this year to Oregon State, which earned the No. 1 national seed in the NCAA Tournament. Led by head coach Lindsay Meggs, the Huskies closed out the regular season ranked No. 8 in the country by Baseball America. Washington hit .281 as a team with a .383 slugging percentage and a .367 on-base percentage.
Senior outfielder Brian Wolfe held a team-high .361 batting average for UW, hitting 10 doubles, a team-high 35 RBIs and five home runs, which is tied for the team lead with three different players. Junior infielder Trevor Mitsui is one of those Huskies with five home runs. Mitsui is batting .335, the second highest average on the team among those with at least 10 at bats, and has nine doubles and 32 RBIs.
Junior right-handed pitcher Tyler Davis leads the UW pitching staff with an impressive 10-2 record and a sparkling 1.75 ERA in 97.2 innings of action.
Ole Miss is 2-3 all-time vs. Georgia Tech, with the Rebels and Yellow Jackets last getting together in 1959. That year, Georgia Tech was still a member of the SEC, and Ole Miss defeated the Yellow Jackets in a three-game series to determine the SEC champion. The 2014 version of Georgia Tech baseball rallied in the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament Championship game vs. Maryland by scoring the game’s final six runs after trailing 4-3 in the seventh inning to win 9-4. It was Georgia Tech’s second ACC title in the past three years and ninth championship in program history.
The balanced Yellow Jackets offense posted a .279 team batting average, a .378 slugging percentage and a .352 on-base percentage. The Georgia Tech pitching staff held a 3.26 team ERA.
Junior outfielder Daniel Spingola hit at a team-high .328 clip, knocking out three home runs to go with his team-high eight triples and 36 RBIs. Matt Gonzalez, Thomas Smith and Mott Hyde, who ranked second, third and fourth on the team in batting average, respectively, each knocked in 35 RBIs this year.
Dusty Isaacs led the Georgia Tech pitching staff with seven wins, going 7-5 with a 1.81 ERA in 59.2 innings of work. Josh Heddinger (4-4) led the Yellow Jackets with 76.2 innings pitched.
The Oxford Regional is paired with the Lafayette, Louisiana, regional for the super regional round. The UL Lafayette Ragin’ Cajuns earned the No. 6 national seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Oxford Regional Schedule
Friday, May 30
Game 1 – No. 3 Georgia Tech vs. No. 2 Washington – 3 p.m.
Game 2 – No. 4 Jacksonville State vs. No. 1 Ole Miss – 7 p.m.
Saturday, May 31
Game 3 – Game 1 loser vs. Game 2 loser – 1 p.m.
Game 4 – Game 1 winner vs. Game 2 winner – 5 p.m.
Sunday, June 1
Game 5 – Game 4 loser vs. Game 3 winner– 1 p.m.
Game 6 – Game 4 winner vs. Game 5 winner– 5 p.m.
Monday, June 2
Game 7 – Game 6 winner vs. Game 6 loser (if necessary) – 7 p.m.
All times Central