Ole Miss baseball releases 2017 schedule

Published 4:20 pm Tuesday, September 20, 2016

The schedule release for Ole Miss sports is not over.

After the 2017 football schedule was released last Tuesday, the baseball team now knows who it will play and when it will play them come this spring.

The 2017 slate was released by the school Tuesday and features 32 games played inside the friendly confides of Oxford-University Stadium.

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The season will begin on Feb. 17 with a weekend series at home against East Carolina. It marks the first time Ole Miss and head coach Mike Bianco will face off against former Rebel assistant Cliff Godwin since he departed for his alma mater after the 2014 season.

The schedule is highlighted with 26 games against teams that made the NCAA Tournament last season, including 20 games against opponents who had an RPI of 25 or better at the conclusion of the 2016 season.

Some key non-conference matchups for the Rebels include a trip to Houston, Texas to play in the Shriners Hospitals for Children College Classic at Minute Maid Park March 3-5. The Rebels will face Big 12 opponents TCU, Texas Tech and Baylor.

For the first time since its construction, Ole Miss will travel south to Biloxi and play Nicholls at the MGM Park, the home of the Milwaukee Brewers minor league team, the Biloxi Shuckers, on March 14.

The annual games at Trustmark Park in Pearl  will be on April 4 against Southern Mississippi and the Governor’s Cup against Mississippi State will be on April 25.

The Southeastern Conference part of the schedule begins at home with a series against Vanderbilt March 17-19. Other SEC foes to come to Swayze Field next season include Mississippi State (March 31-April 2), Alabama (April 7-9), Missouri (April 21-23) and Texas A&M (May 12-14). Ole Miss will once again finish the regular season on the road, this year at Auburn May 18-20, before making the trip to Hoover, Alabama for the SEC Tournament (May 23-28).

Along with Auburn, Ole Miss will travel to Kentucky (March 24-26), LSU (April 13-15), Arkansas (April 28-30) and Florida (May 5-7).

Ole Miss went 43-19 overall last season and 18-12 in SEC play. The Rebels hosted a regional but went 0-2 for the second straight year.

Ole Miss returns 19 players from that team and adds 18 newcomers to the fold that make up the best recruiting class in school history.