Ole Miss baseball earned another top-10 preseason ranking Thursday, coming in at No. 10 in the USA Today Sports preseason baseball coaches poll.

The Southeastern Conference held down the top three spots in the poll as LSU, Vanderbilt and Florida claimed the top three positions. The Rebels were the fourth SEC squad to make the top 10, while Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi State and Auburn each landed in the top 20.

The Rebels’ 2019 schedule is laden with ranked competition, including No. 1 LSU (May 3-5), No. 3 Florida (Apr. 5-7), No. 8 Louisville (Mar. 12-13), No. 12 Arkansas (Mar. 29-31), No. 14 East Carolina (Mar. 6), No. 15 Mississippi State (May 10-12) and No. 20 Auburn (Apr. 18-20). Southern Miss, Texas A&M and Kentucky all received votes and appear on the Rebels’ schedule as well.

Florida, Mississippi State, East Carolina, Texas A&M and Kentucky will all come to Swayze Field, while the Rebels must travel to play LSU, Louisville, Auburn, Arkansas and Southern Miss. Ole Miss will also meet MSU and USM at Trustmark Park in Pearl, Mississippi, for neutral site battles.

As the Rebels take on a challenging road, they’ll do so with seven returning starters on the SEC’s best offense from a season ago. They’re the only team in the conference to return seven players on offense who started 48 or more games last season. Ole Miss will have to replace three MLB Draft picks on the mound, including first-rounder Ryan Rolison, but a wealth of new young arms have lined up to fill the void.

USA Today Preseason Coaches Poll
1. LSU
2. Vanderbilt
3. Florida
4. Texas Tech
5. Oregon State
6. North Carolina
7. UCLA
8. Louisville
9. Stanford
10. Ole Miss
11. Florida State
12. Arkansas
13. Georgia
14. East Carolina
15. Mississippi State
16. Texas
17. TCU
18. Baylor
19. Clemson
20. Auburn
21. Oklahoma State
22. Coastal Carolina
23. NC State
24. Cal State Fullerton
25. Michigan

by Alex Sims

Ole Miss Athletics