OXFORD – For the second year in a row, Ole Miss baseball is playing past Memorial Day.
The Rebels (36-21, 15-15 SEC) earned a No. 2 seed in the 2026 NCAA Tournament and will play in the Lincoln Regional. Ole Miss will be joined by No. 1 seed and host Nebraska – the No. 13 overall seed in the tournament – No. 3 seed Arizona State and No. 4 seed South Dakota State. The Lincoln Regional is paired with the Auburn Regional, and the winners of each will play in a Super Regional hosted by the higher-seeded team.
The Rebels will face No. 3 seed Arizona State on Friday at 8 p.m. The game will be broadcast on ESPN2. Regional play is double-elimination format.
It is the 27th NCAA Tournament appearance in program history and 20th under 26th-year head coach Mike Bianco. The Rebels finished No. 18 in the RPI (ratings percentage index), which takes strength of schedule and strength of wins/losses, among other things, into effect. Ole Miss had the nation’s No. 3 strength of schedule.
“Everybody’s going to talk about how good their regional is. And obviously I think this is one,” Bianco said. “ … Certainly a big ace on the mound and one of the best offensive players in the country. And so, really good offense, 108 home runs. We don’t play a lot of people that have more home runs than us. So, a team that certainly is going to be a big challenge for us.”
After a two-year hiatus from the postseason following their 2022 College World Series title, the Rebels hosted a regional in 2025 as the No. 10 overall seed, ultimately falling to Murray State in the regional final. Ole Miss was on the bubble as a host contender heading into last week’s SEC Tournament, but the Rebels dropped their opener to 16th-seeded Missouri.
The Rebels are 34th nationally with a 4.47 team ERA and are fourth in the nation in both strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.44) and strikeouts per nine innings (11.7). Sophomore Cade Townsend, a second-team All-SEC pick, leads Ole Miss starters with a 3.81 ERA.
Ole Miss is tied for 17th nationally with 100 home runs hit, led by senior third baseman Judd Utermark and senior outfielder Tristan Bissetta’s 20 apiece. Rebel batters have struck out an SEC-high 589 times this season.
The Sun Devils’ (37-19, 19-11 Big 12) pitching staff is anchored by first-team all-conference lefty Cole Carlon, who has a 3.51 ERA with 124 strikeouts over 77 innings pitched. Four different Sun Devils batters have hit at least 16 home runs this season, led by Big 12 Player of the Year Landon Hairston’s 28. Hairston is also hitting a team-best .413.
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