Mike Bianco Reveals 'Fluid' Opening Weekend Lineup For Ole Miss Baseball

The Ole Miss Rebels will start a combination of players at a variety of positions this weekend in Arlington.

Ole Miss infielder Luke Hill (7) fields, steps on second for an out, and throws to first for a double play in the 2nd inning at Swayze Field in Oxford, Miss., on Friday, Apr. 12, 2024. | Bruce Newman/Special to the Clarion Ledger / USA TODAY NETWORK

The Ole Miss Rebels are almost ready to open their 2025 baseball season as they are set to take the field this weekend in the Shriners Children's College Showdown in Arlington, Texas.

As is the case each year in his team media day availability, Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco presented the team's starting pitching rotation for the weekend and went into detail about the position player lineup during comments on Tuesday.

According to Bianco, there will be a lot of moving parts in the lineup for Ole Miss in the first few weeks of the season, including the likelihood of three different lineups this weekend in Arlington.

"Baseball's different," Bianco said. "It's not like the football quarterback who starts and, barring any injury, that guy's going to start 12 games for you. The rotation can go up and down. Guys can move from bullpen to starter, and same with position players.

"Some of our guys are athletic enough and can play multiple positions, that's going to give us an opportunity to find that best nine, meaning collectively, that's your best team."

Holding down the outfield spots are expected to be Ryan Moerman, Isaac Humphrey and Mitchell Sanford, all of whom are new additions to the Rebels roster this season from the transfer portal. Bianco also stated that Humphrey and Samford can rotate between right field and center field and could see time at both spots.

In the infield, Luke Hill and Judd Utermark are expected to be the primary third basemen, although Hill will also see time at second base, and Utermark could see action at first base or in the outfield.

Freshman Owen Paino is expected to draw the start for the Rebels at shortstop followed by Brayden Randle at second base, Will Furniss at first base and Campbell Smithwick behind the plate catching.

Bianco also stated that in the first few games of the season, numerous other players could draw starts in the field or at designated hitter, including Collin Reuter, Hayden Federico and Luke Cheng.

Those are a lot of names to keep track of (especially with so many new faces on Ole Miss' roster this season), but Bianco seems to believe that many of his players have the ability to play multiple positions. It's just about finding the right combination on the field to make it all work at prime efficiency.

"I think the lineup will be fluid through the first several weeks as we start to maneuver not just places in the lineup, but figure out vs. right-handed pitching, vs. left-handed pitching who our best nine are," Bianco said.

Ole Miss will open the season on Friday against Arizona in a 3 p.m. CT first pitch in Arlington.