OXFORD — After playing the nation’s toughest schedule in 2015, the Ole Miss baseball team will have another challenging 56-game schedule as the Rebels announced their 2016 campaign Monday morning. The regular season kicks off with Florida International coming to Swayze Field for a three-game series, Feb. 19-21, and culminates when the Rebels hit the road to battle Texas A&M three months later (May 19-21) in the final games prior to starting postseason play with the SEC tournament (May 24-29).
The schedule is highlighted by 19 games against teams that made the NCAA tournament last season, including 13 games versus opponents with a Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) in the top 25 at the end of the 2015 season. Although 34 percent of the schedule consists of NCAA tournament teams, Ole Miss will host the majority of them at Oxford-University Stadium/Swayze Field. The 32-game home slate features 15 games versus opponents that qualified for the 2015 NCAA tournament, including six against College World Series teams. Arkansas visits Oxford (April 8-10), and the Rebels will square off against LSU (April 29-May 1).
Ole Miss finished second in the nation in attendance in 2015, averaging 8,028 fans per game for a total season attendance of 240,849; the 8,028 average is the second-most in program history.
Ole Miss will kick off the 2016 season against Florida International on Feb. 19-21 in Oxford. It will play Mississippi State on April 1-3 in Starkville. It will take on Southern Mississippi on April 5 and MSU on April 26 at Trustmark Park in Pearl.
The game with the Bulldogs will be the annual Governor’s Cup, and the Rebels will look to retain the trophy after winning last season’s game, 11-1.
The SEC tournament will be May 24-29 at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium in Hoover, Alabama. It is the 19th-straight year the premier conference tournament has been held at The Hoover Met.
The Rebels return 16 players from last season’s team, including six starting position players. First or second year players took 70.9 percent of the team’s at-bats throughout the 2015 season, and nearly all of them are back for the 2016 campaign. Ole Miss also welcomes in 17 newcomers, featuring 13 freshmen and four junior college transfers.
The Rebels played 24 percent of their games against top-10 teams in 2015. Ole Miss won the series over Florida (CWS third place) and at Vanderbilt (CWS runner-up) at times when the teams were ranked No. 1 in the nation. Facing the hardest schedule in the country a season ago, the Rebels won 30 games for the 18th-consecutive season and earned an NCAA Tournament berth for the 13th time in 15 seasons under Bianco. Both accomplishments rank second and third in the SEC, respectively, and the Rebels will look increase those marks in 2016.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 37 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.