A series win over Florida has put new life into this Ole Miss baseball series though there are still major concerns ability of this team to score runs.
For the time being, Ole Miss (22-11, 5-7 SEC) is in the bottom half of the conference standings with 18 SEC games to play. Unfortunately for the Rebels, it does not play the bottom two teams in the league in terms of conference record Missouri or South Carolina.
So how many SEC games will Ole Miss baseball win? And how many does it need to get back
into the regional hosting conversation? Here is the remaining schedule for the next six weekends of play.
- LSU (Oxford)
- Tennessee (Knoxville)
- Georgia (Oxford)
- Arkansas (Fayetteville)
- Texas A&M (Oxford)
- Alabama (Tuscaloosa)
Ole Miss will only face one team with a worse conference record right now down the stretch, but its a road trip to Knoxville. The Volunteers are not the unstoppable force from the past couple seasons, so this could be a potential road series win in the making. The long road trip to Arkansas in the month of May doesn’t give me any warm fuzzy feelings though the Hogs have been very inconsistent. Going 3-3 between these two series would be about what I’d expect.
The other five series however are going to be battles for this team to even get one win. Georgia just swept Mississippi State in Starkville and are one of the hottest teams in the country coming into Oxford for Double Decker weekend.
There’s bad juju with Mike Bianco and LSU, but the Tigers are about as beatable as the Rebels. Their season hasn’t gone at all the way its fans expect though the overall record is 22-11 just like Ole Miss. This upcoming weekend at Swayze Field also marks the halfway point of conference play when it concludes, so it is a massive series for both teams.
Alabama is another team that has played some very good ball this year, and its likely at this point in the season Ole Miss will be needing at least one win to get itself an RPI bump. The Rebels can’t afford any more sweeps after its embarrassing home sweep against MSU, but this is absolutely a series where it could happen.
Point blank the Rebels have to go 10-8 down the stretch to get back into the hosting conversation in my opinion. That means it doesn’t get swept and wins four of these six series. Remember just last season the Rebels hosted after finishing 16-14 in the conference.
If anyone feels confident this team can play that consistently the next six weeks, you are a much better fan than me. The offensive struggles have cost the Rebels games though its pitching has given this team plenty of chances to win.
The LSU weekend could truly be where the season is made. Getting back to back SEC series wins could be the momentum boost this team needs to find itself again.
