Ole Miss Baseball Making a Home in Omaha
The Ole Miss baseball team arrived in Omaha on Thursday and Aslan Hodges from WAPT reports they were immediately swamped by Ole Miss fans seeking autographs as they checked into their hotel. There will be many more opportunities for Rebel and baseball fans alike to interact with the teams in Omaha.
The top eight teams in America start play this week in a tournament that is much different from the year-long schedule the teams have faced. The Ole Miss team will play the last game in the first round on Sunday and then wait until Tuesday (win or lose) to play the next game. Gone are the three game weekend formats and the two games a day matchups.
This has the potential to slow some guys down, if they are on a hot streak. Baseball players are creatures of habit and you don’t like to get them out of their routine but at least the guys will be fully rested for each opportunity they have and can use the down time to visit with fans and enjoy their time in Omaha which is truly an honor all by itself.
FRIDAY
As the Rebels took to batting practice Friday, much of the discussion was based on the field. TD Ameritrade’s dimensions are 335 down the lines, 375 in the gap and 408 to dead center. While this is a big park it is the exact same dimensions of the previous played host to the CWS, Rosenblatt Stadium.
Rosenblatt saw an average of 2.45 home runs per game in 2007 to 2010. Since moving up the hill to TD Ameritrade those numbers dropped to 0.67 in 2012 and college baseball fans only saw 3 total homeruns in 2013.
What is the difference? According to this piece at Omaha.com, the new field was turned to face the south prevailing winds while old Rosenblatt stadium faced the northeast, so batters had the wind in their favor.
For the last two days, the wind has consistently been blowing in the face of the guys taking batting practice.
The Clarion-Ledger’s Courtney Cronin caught up with the Rebels during Friday’s batting practice and talked to them about the home run debate.
Head coach Mike Bianco tries to calm the talk. “We aren’t a home run hitting club, we only hit 38 home runs, but we hit for a high average (over 300), we won’t change what we do.” Junior first baseman and home run leader on the team Sikes Orvis says, “I do try to hit home runs but I mainly try to drive balls and hope I am lucky enough one will fall in the bullpen.” Senior catcher Will Allen says, “This is the closest i’ve come to a major league stadium.”
OM only hit 5 home runs in post season play but got just enough pitching and hitting to make it through regional and super regional play.
Chris Ellis is slated to lead the Rebels on Sunday just as he has on Friday nights all season. Ellis enters the College World Series at 10-3 with a 2.45 ERA. He had been fairly dominate leading the Rebel pitching staff all year until he ran into trouble last Saturday in Lafayette, only lasting 2 1/3 innings.
Pitching in a stadium that plays “big” gives Ellis some confidence as he talked to John Davis from Oxford Citizen, knowing he can “fill up the strike zone.” He also talks about his last outing and that this week will be, “a lot different than last.”
Ole Miss will be facing Virginia ace Nathan Kirby who has recorded over one hundred strikeouts to Ellis’ 64 in around 100 innings pitched for both players. So they are different style of pitchers but Kirby also got chased out of his super regional starting job against Maryland, so all hands will be on deck Sunday night and plenty of guys will be available to help them out if they run into trouble early.
I expect a fantastic pitcher’s duel.
Dan McDonnell is the head coach of Louisville but has no problem saying he is a still a fan of Ole Miss and will attend with his family to watch his old coach Mike Bianco play his first game in the College World Series at Ole Miss.
Dan was an assistant at Ole Miss under Bianco from 2001 to 2006 and was a big part of the early success of Ole Miss. Since leaving Oxford his kids still pull for Ole Miss and he talks with John Davis about his kid’s soft spot for Oxford, Ole Miss and Eli Manning.
The Louisville coach says he will be there Sunday night rooting for the Rebels.
The Rebels enjoyed the opening ceremony Friday night complete with fireworks.
SATURDAY
The Rebels visited the Omaha Home For Boys this morning as part of a charity event and will get in a full practice later today before the first games of the CWS at 2pm as Texas and UC Irvine kick things off for the 2014 CWS.
If you are still looking for a ticket to Sunday night’s game, you should know the Ole Miss allotment of tickets have been long sold out. There are additional tickets available as general admission through the ticket office at CWSOmaha.com. According to one Ole Miss fan on twitter, the CWS ticket both is getting inundated with inquires from Mississippi.
“(I) talked to the ticket office in Omaha. They said most of their calls were from Ole Miss fans. Sounds like Ole Miss will be well represented.” Tonya Shelton (@tonyashelton1)
Kyle Cole (@therealkylecole) added to the ticket discussion by posting that “StubHub tickets for the OleMiss/UVA game are priced at over $600, making it the most expensive opening round ticket in CWS history.”
According to PerfectGame’s Kendall Rogers, Ole Miss has the best offensive team in the CWS. “The Rebels are just solid all the way around one through nine.” He gives the starting pitching a B+ and says the Ole Miss bullpen is arguably the most underrated aspect of the team.