Just One Week

(UMAA)
OXFORD, Miss. – The Ole Miss baseball team was picked to win the Southeastern Conference Western Division, and was one vote away from being picked to win the overall conference title by the league’s coaches, the league office announced on Thursday.

The Rebels received 10 of 12 votes for first place in the Western Division and received four votes as the preseason selection to win the overall conference title behind Vanderbilt, who received five of the 12 votes available.

The preseason selection is another in a line of several for the Rebels, who have been ranked in the top-10 of four polls, including two fourth-place rankings by Baseball America and Collegiate Baseball.

“It’s flattering for the program to be thought of so highly by the other coaches in our league,” Bianco said. “But, we also realize this is a pre-season poll and we have to go out and take care of business on the field.”

Ole Miss is coming off a third-straight 40-win season in 2007 as the Rebels advanced to an NCAA Super Regional for the third consecutive season. It was the fifth-straight post-season appearance for the Rebels, who are also the only team in the Southeastern Conference to post a winning record in conference play over that same five-year period.

The Rebels will open the season on February 22, when Ole Miss will host Minnesota in a three-game series at Oxford-University Stadium/Swayze Field. First-pitch is set for 3:00 p.m.