Ole Miss baseball ranked No. 25 in D1Baseball

Published 11:54 am Tuesday, January 14, 2020

By Nathanael Gabler

Ole MIss’ Doug Nikhazy pitches against Louisville at Jim Patterson Stadium in Louisville, Ky. on Tuesday, March 12, 2019. Ole Miss, ranked 25th in the preseason D1 Baseball poll, opens the season against Louisville on February 14. (Bruce Newman, Oxford Eagle)

Coming off of a 41-27 season that saw them dominate the Oxford Regional en route to their first Super Regional appearance since 2014, Ole Miss is once again ranked inside the D1Baseball preseason top 25.

Starting the year ranked No. 25 in the poll, Ole Miss is one of nine SEC teams ranked inside the top 25. Three of the top five schools and six of the top 10 are from the Southeastern Conference. The ACC landed eight selections.

Based solely off these preseason rankings, Ole Miss has an absolutely brutal road ahead of them in 2020. The Rebels open the season in Oxford with a three-game series against the nation’s No. 1 team, Louisville. The Rebels have scheduled 29 games against other ranked teams, including 25 games against teams ranked in the top 11. At one point, from April 17 to May 10, they will play 13 straight games against teams ranked in the top 10.

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What will this year’s Ole Miss team look like? Put very simply, very different and much younger. Offensively, the top four Rebels in terms of hits from last season either graduated or left to play professionally. Will Ethridge, last year’s Friday night starter, also went pro.

The good news is that Ole Miss landed the nation’s No. 2 recruiting class this past offseason, bringing the second-highest rated class in Rebels history to Oxford this year. Many of those freshmen may need to play immediately, including pitcher Derek Diamond, who very likely may fill the hole in the weekend rotation left behind by Ethridge.

Entering the 2020 season, different sets of rankings have been all over the board with the Rebels. Perfect Game ranked Ole Miss No. 18 coming into the 2020 season, while the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper did not have the Rebels inside its top 40. However, the D1Baseball rankings are often the most cited set of polls, with Ole Miss being shown at No. 25.
Ole Miss opens practice this week, and the team is less than one month from opening day. The Ole Miss season-opening series against No. 1 Louisville is slated for Feb. 14 through 16 at Oxford-University Stadium. The Rebels play their first nine games at home. For a full list of the D1Baseball 2020 preseason rankings, see below:

Team                             2019 Record
1. Louisville                     51-18
2. Vanderbilt                   59-12
3. Miami                          41-20
4. Florida                         34-26
5. Georgia                        46-17
6. Texas Tech                  46-20
7. Arkansas                     46-20
8. Auburn                        38-28
9. Arizona State              38-19
10. Mississippi State      52-15
11. LSU                              40-26
12. Florida State              42-23
13. Michigan                    50-22
14. UCLA                           52-11
15. Duke                            35-27
16. NC State                      42-19
17. Stanford                      45-14
18. Wake Forest                31-26
19. Georgia Tech               43-19
20. Texas A&M                 39-23
21. East Carolina               47-18
22. Oklahoma State         40-21
23. North Carolina           46-19
24. Oklahoma                   33-23
25. Ole Miss                      41-27

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