'They Were So Much Better Than Us This Weekend': Mike Bianco Following Series Loss to Vanderbilt

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The No. 3 Ole Miss Rebels got off to a rocky start in Southeastern Conference play this weekend after they were swept by the No. 6 Vanderbilt Commodores over the weekend.

For the first time in over a decade, Ole Miss baseball will start conference play 0-3. The Rebels now own a 14-6 overall record.

Ole Miss coach Mike Bianco got the chance to speak with the media following the series loss and was blunt in his opening statement.

"Not much to say," Bianco told reporters. "[Vanderbilt] just beat us up all weekend long, and played better than us in all phases. I think we gave up 27 [runs] and we scored four ourselves, so there's not much to say after that. They were so much better than us this weekend. It's disappointing, we're a better baseball team than that, we just didn't give ourselves any opportunities."

Ole Miss got off to an early 2-0 lead on Saturday thanks to two solo home runs from shortstop Jacob Gonzalez and catcher Calvin Harris, but the lead quickly dissipated after starting pitcher Xavier Rivas surrendered three runs and two walks in 5.0 innings. Bianco discussed Rivas' outing in his postgame presser.

"You know [Rivas] gave us an opportunity," Bianco said. "He had an inning where he lost his breaking ball and I think he walked [Enrique] Bradfield and then hit [Davis] Diaz, which put him in a bad spot... I thought his command was really good, I just think for a couple of innings he opened the door for [Vanderbilt] and they took advantage."

Bianco also mentioned what his takeaways are from the first weekend of SEC play.

"Just disappointed that we weren't competitive in any of the phases," Bianco said. "I think [Vanderbilt] competed very well offensively, they got every big hit... and made it really hard on our pitchers, we just couldn't get off the field... It's pretty demoralizing, we'll go back and watch the game again, but in the end, we have to be better."

You can follow Ben King on Twitter at @BKing_2023.

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