A Little Baseball Talk

From UMAA:


OXFORD, Miss. – The accolades continued to come in for the 2007 Ole Miss Baseball recruiting class on Monday as the latest class of Rebels to set foot on campus was ranked as the 14th-best class in the nation by Baseball America.

The publication – which tracks the sport of baseball across all collegiate divisions and professionally – is the second to name Ole Miss’ class as one of the top recruiting classes in the nation. In September, Collegiate Baseball magazine also included the Rebels among the top 25 nationally in recruiting.

It marks the fifth class under Bianco to have been ranked nationally by recruiting services.

Ole Miss is currently in the middle of fall practices as the team prepares for the upcoming season, which will start on February 23, 2008, when the Rebels will host Minnesota in a three-game series at Oxford-University Stadium/Swayze Field.

Ole Miss saw four players depart after being drafted, including two second-round picks in right-hander Will Kline and All-SEC and All-American shortstop Zack Cozart. Also drafted were left-hander Craig Rodriguez, second baseman Justin Henry from a squad that made the program’s third-straight Super Regional appearance and hosted an NCAA Regional for the fourth-consecutive season.

Ole Miss is one of only two programs in the country to host an NCAA Regional each of the last four seasons and one of only four programs, the only one in the Southeastern Conference, to advance to an NCAA Super Regional each of the last three seasons. Over the last five years, the Rebels have posted more SEC wins than any other program and are the only program to post a winning record in conference play each season since 2002.

The 2007 recruiting class is comprised of 17 fresh faces to the Rebel program, including 11 freshman and six junior college transfers, and continue that tradition of excellence under Bianco as the Rebels signed another balanced class. Arriving in the fall of 2007 are a bevy of hitters, pitchers and solid defensive players covering all positions on the field.