OXFORD — The Ole Miss baseball team will play 21 games against teams that competed in the NCAA tournament last season, including five games against teams that advanced to the 2014 College World Series, coach Mike Bianco announced Wednesday.
The Rebels will play a 56-game schedule in 2015, featuring 21 games (37.5 percent) against teams with an Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) inside the top 30 last season. Of the Rebels’ 56 games, 31 will be at Oxford-University Stadium/Swayze Field, where the Rebels went 27-7 last season and won the NCAA Oxford Regional.
Ole Miss will play 11 of its 26 road games against NCAA tournament teams from 2014, including a three-game series at defending NCAA champion Vanderbilt on April 10-12.
Ole Miss went 48-21 last season and won the Southeastern Conference Western Division Championship. The Rebels played host to a regional and advanced to the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska, where they were one of the final four teams remaining.
Ole Miss will face a non-conference schedule highlighted by a two-game road trip at Louisville (March 10-11), which last season hosted an NCAA Regional and Super Regional, and competed in the College World Series.
Ole Miss will open the season with its first eight games at home. It will face William & Mary (Feb. 13-15), Arkansas State (Feb. 17), Wright State (Feb. 20-22), and Central Arkansas (Feb. 25) to start the year. Following road games against UCF (Feb. 27-March 1) and Southern Mississippi (March 4), Ole Miss will play its final non-conference weekend series March 6-8 when it plays host to Stetson.
After Ole Miss’ two-game, mid-week series at Louisville, it will open SEC play March 13-15 against LSU in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Ole Miss will also play conference road series at Arkansas (March 27-29), Vanderbilt (April 10-12), Auburn (April 17-19), and Missouri (May 1-3).
Ole Miss will play host to five SEC series, beginning with Florida (March 20-22), and followed by Tennessee (April 3-5), Alabama (April 24-26), Mississippi State (May 8-10), and Texas A&M (May 14-16).
Ole Miss also will have five non-conference midweek games at home against Arkansas-Pine Bluff (March 18), Alabama-Birmingham (March 24-25), Tennessee-Martin (April 15), and Memphis (April 22). Ole Miss will have four non-conference midweek games outside of Oxford against Memphis (March 31 at AutoZone Park), Southern Miss (April 7 in Pearl), MSU in the Governor’s Cup (April 28 in Pearl), and Arkansas State (May 12).
The SEC tournament will be May 19-24 in Hoover, Alabama, at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium. It is the 18th-straight year the premier conference tournament has been held at The Hoover Met.
Ole Miss returns 20 players from last season’s team and welcomes 18 newcomers, including 12 freshmen and six transfers.
n In related news, the Ole Miss Ticket Office is accepting season ticket renewals and new season ticket orders for the 2015 Ole Miss baseball season beginning Saturday. Fans can purchase single-game tickets beginning in February.
For more information on Ole Miss baseball tickets, contact the ticket office at 662-915-7167, or go to OleMissTix.com.
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