OXFORD – Although they didn’t face each other in the regular season, Ole Miss’ last obstacle on its current path to Omaha is a fairly familiar face.
The No. 2-seeded Rebels (39-21) will face No. 1 seed Auburn (42-20) in a best-of-three super regional starting Friday at 7 p.m. on ESPN2. Saturday’s game will start at 4 p.m. while Game 3, if necessary, has yet to be determined. The winner of the super regional will earn a berth into the College World Series.
Ole Miss swept through the Lincoln Regional with a victory over host Nebraska sandwiched between a pair of extra-inning wins over No. 3 seed Arizona State. The Rebels’ bullpen shined, surrendering just four earned runs over 17 innings of work. Sophomore starter Taylor Rabe – who struck out nine batters and gave up one earned run over six innings against the Cornhuskers – sophomore outfielder Hayden Federico, junior catcher Austin Fawley and junior designated hitter Brayden Randle were named to the all-regional team.
Junior second baseman Dom Decker, who was a member of last year’s Murray State squad that knocked the Rebels out of the postseason and advanced to the College World Series, hit a walk-off sacrifice fly in the 10th inning of Sunday’s game to send the Rebels into the super regionals.
“It was really cool. It was kind of everything you really dream about. You practice for those moments, you train for these moments,” Decker said. “And, I was just put in a really good spot by my teammates and just wanted to get the job done for the guys around me.”
Auburn, the No. 4 national seed, fought its way through the loser’s bracket of its own regional, avenging its opening loss to Milwaukee with a pair of wins over the Panthers in the regional final. The Tigers are sixth nationally and lead the SEC with a 3.62 ERA and are first in the nation with a 3.75 strikeout-to-walk ratio. Auburn outfielder Bristol Carter is third in the SEC with 30 stolen bases.
The Rebels and Tigers did not play this year, so Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco doesn’t have a full scouting report on Auburn quite yet. But there are a few qualities of Butch Thompson’s team Bianco is sure of.
“You know why they’re good. You know that they do everything really well. But most importantly, they pitch it better than anybody in our league,” Bianco said. “But that’s not to take anything away from the offense. I think the offense is certainly as good. They hit homers, they steal bases, they bunt a little bit. … Again, another really good opponent on the road.”
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