Ole Miss red hot before Hattiesburg Super Regional
Southern Miss and Ole Miss are playing one another in the Hattiesburg Super Regional for the right to go to the College World Series.
The Rebels could pose a serious threat to USM, coming off their most explosive NCAA Tournament game in program history, scoring 22 runs to eliminate Arizona on Monday.
The third-year captain Tim Elko led the way for a team that was one of the last four in, but now one of the last 16 remaining. Head Coach Mike Bianco said, “Tim, three-time captain, and a lot of his older teammates, that would’ve been super disappointing. So, to watch them get this opportunity and make the most of it, to play so well, as a coach, that’s your reward to watch the kids play and succeed and sometimes fail like we did this year and then pick themselves back up and then put themselves back in position to succeed again.”
Elko said, “It doesn’t really matter what rank you are getting into the tournament or whatever. We just have full belief in ourselves and so much confidence in ourselves that this is no surprise to us. We knew the whole season that we had a great team. Sure, we had a stretch where we weren’t playing our best baseball. But we never doubted ourselves, never pointed fingers and just continued to believe in ourselves.”
Elko is now the Ole Miss home run king after hitting his 22nd of the year Monday.
Game one of the Hattiesburg Super Regional is set for Saturday at 3 p.m. on ESPNU. Game two is set for Sunday at 3 p.m. on EPSN2/ESPNU. If necessary, game three will take place on Monday.
