COLUMN: Ole Miss Baseball Has Massive Opportunity With Tennessee Series At Swayze Field

Oxford, Mississippi, will likely be a proverbial zoo this weekend.

On top of it being spring in the Magnolia State, it's also the first home baseball series of SEC play for Ole Miss. On top of that, it's a top-five matchup between the Rebels and Tennessee Volunteers, both of whom are ranked No. 1 in the country by different polls.

If you want a table on The Square this weekend, you better start making your reservations.

Every spring, scores of fans make their pilgrimage to Oxford during baseball season--some once, and some multiple times. In Mississippi, the first day of spring isn't marked by the position of the Earth or a certain temperature mark. In this state, that's too inconsistent.

It's marked by baseball.

Akin to a Black Friday sale, people will rush to Oxford this weekend for a celebration of their first day of spring, one that will be marked by a set of three games at Swayze Field that poses a massive opportunity for the home-standing Rebels. Ole Miss sits at 16-4 overall this season, and that paired with a 2-1 mark in conference play has been enough to push it to the top-ranked team in the land by multiple polls.

To this point, Ole Miss' biggest feather in its cap is two road series wins: one at UCF and one at Auburn. Road series are hard to capture in college baseball, and when a team manages to do so, they're treated like gold.

Want to prove you're the top team in the country, however? Take this series against the Volunteers.

The inverse is true for Tennessee. If the Vols were to come to Oxford and knock off this talented Ole Miss team on the road, it would likely vault to No. 1 in numerous other polls, and the momentum that has quickly been established on the diamond in Knoxville would cause everyone in the country to take notice. Again, road series are tough to win in general. They're even tougher to win against the No. 1 team in the country.

How can Ole Miss ensure that it is the one that comes out on top this weekend? For starters, the starters have to produce. Starting pitching continues to be a bit of an issue for the Rebels, and Mike Bianco has once again shifted his rotation for the weekend heading into the matchup with Tennessee. John Gaddis will get the ball on Friday followed by Jack Dougherty on Saturday and Derek Diamond on Sunday.

Ole Miss has to pitch well to make this weekend be successful. That sounds simple on the surface, but it's something that hasn't always been the case this season for the Rebels, and the continual altering of the rotation is evidence to that.

Secondly, Ole Miss has to continue to produce at the plate despite the absence of names like Kevin Graham and Calvin Harris. TJ McCants, injured in game three of the Auburn series, did not play against Memphis, but Bianco stated after the game that he hopes to have his corner outfielder this weekend.

Even without McCants on Wednesday, the Rebels put up 11 runs, but the lineup needs to be as close to full-strength as possible with this weekend test on the horizon. Tennessee hasn't played the stiffest of competition to start its season, but its staff has a collective ERA of 1.93 so far. The staff ERA was a crisp 1.00 against South Carolina last weekend.

The Rebels will be challenged in all facets of the game this weekend, so it has to take advantage of the routine defensive plays when they present themselves, another aspect that hasn't always been elite this season. Pair clean play across the board with a massive home crowd at Oxford-University Stadium, and this weekend could be special for Ole Miss.

This series in Oxford is setting up to be the perfect storm. A massive crowd will be in attendance all three days, and if Ole Miss can take care of business, more massive crowds will likely follow in the coming weekends. More importantly, however, this series presents a big stepping stone opportunity for the Rebels to reach their postseason goals.

Want to be the best? You have to beat the best, and one of the teams in that category is in town this weekend.

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