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Ole Miss Baseball nightmare season continues but the Rebels aren’t dead yet

By Harley Hudson

Ole Miss OF Kemp Alderman (12) swings during the Ole Miss vs. Mississippi State Governor's Cup baseball game at Trustmark Park in Pearl, Miss., Tuesday, April 25, 2023.TCL OleMissvMSU215
Ole Miss OF Kemp Alderman (12) swings during the Ole Miss vs. Mississippi State Governor's Cup baseball game at Trustmark Park in Pearl, Miss., Tuesday, April 25, 2023.TCL OleMissvMSU215 /
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Ole Miss baseball has had a season to forget in 2023 so far sitting at 25-23 on the year, but the Rebels are still alive for the SEC tournament as of now.

It’s been one of those years for Ole Miss sports, one where every team seems to be cursed in a way. In Football, the Rebels got out to a 7-0 start on the 2022-23 season before spiraling down the stretch to finish 1-5 in their last six games. After a 10-2 finish the previous year, it can only be called a disappointment.

Speaking of disappointing, Ole Miss basketball had one of their worst seasons in recent memory this year leading to the firing of head coach Kermit Davis. After starting his Ole Miss career with a 20-13 record and qualifying for the NCAA tournament, it was all downhill from there, and this season the Rebels finished an abysmal 12-21.

Normally a mainstay atop the college baseball rankings and consistently one of the more successful programs at the university, Ole Miss baseball has found itself in the same boat as the other programs this year. After winning the College World Series and securing a National Championship a year ago, the program has taken a nose dive in 2023.

The Rebels were hot out of the gates earlier in the season starting 14-2 and sweeping all of their BIG 10 opponents in the early part of their schedule.

They were also returning some top-tier talent like players such as Jacob Gonzalez who was named first-team All-SEC a year ago and was a first-team freshman All-American in 2021, as well as junior Kemp Alderman who finished second on the team in doubles, third on the team in home runs and fourth in slugging percentage last season.

By all accounts, Ole Miss baseball was on track to try and repeat their success and seemingly picking up where they left off a year ago. Then the season took a turn for the worse with a loss against Jacksonville State earlier this year which was followed up by an 0-3 series showing against a top-ranked Vanderbilt team.

From that moment on the Rebels have been 11-21 after their first 16 games, including a 6-18 record against SEC opponents. They won their only SEC series against Georgia a couple of weeks ago and went 1-2 in their most recent conference series against Missouri.

While the back two-thirds of their season has been rather forgettable, the Rebels season isn’t over quite yet. If the season ended today Ole Miss would fail to qualify for the SEC tournament, which would be the first time since 2011, but it’s still a three-team race for the final seed.

With six total SEC games left to play, the Rebels will likely need to win both of their series matchups against Auburn and Alabama, and they will need Missouri and Mississippi State to lose theirs in order to grab the last spot in the SEC tournament. Ole Miss next faces Auburn in a three-game series beginning tonight at 7:00 p.m. in Oxford.

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