No. 18 Rebels have a string of upcoming games in Oxford and on the road.
Ole Miss Baseball is officially underway. After a historic season in 2014, Head Coach Mike Bianco’s 2015 Rebels are swinging the bats again at Swayze Field as they attempt to make a return trip to Omaha in June.
The No.18 Rebels opened the season this past weekend against William & Mary, outscoring their opponent 26–14 in a 2–1 series win. Ole Miss won Friday, 9–4, lost Saturday’s first game 8–1 and rebounded with a 16–2 win Saturday afternoon.
On Saturday, the Rebels played a doubleheader dropping the first game of the day, but the bats came alive in the second game and Ole Miss produced a 16–2 victory. Sophomore right-hander Brady Bramlett (1–0) made his first career start. He went six innings giving up two runs on four hits while striking out eight batters and walking none. “It was just great to be back and have a good outing after not playing last year,” Bramlett said. “When the offense scores as many runs as they did, it’s easy to cruise out there a little bit.”
Bianco was obviously disappointed with the loss in game two, but expressed the resilience of this team to move on quickly and regroup for the next game.
“It was disappointing to play poorly in Game one [doubleheader], but it was encouraging to bounce back like we did in Game two,” Coach Bianco said. “We certainly needed [Brady] Bramlett to shut them down for a few innings and then let us swing it at the plate.”
And swing they did. Ole Miss combined for 26 runs on 30 hits and averaged .313 at the plate. Errol Robinson and Colby Bortles led the charge with eight hits and 10 RBIs combined. Freshman Infielder Kyle Robinson went a perfect .1000 at the plate with three doubles and three RBIs despite only playing in two games.
Ole Miss will continue its season with another home series this weekend against Wright State. The games are slotted for 4 pm (Friday) and 1:30 pm (Saturday and Sunday). The Friday game will be televised by the SEC Network. The Rebels will host Central Arkansas at home on Wednesday, the 25th at 4 pm.
Looking forward, Ole Miss will hit the road with games against Central Florida, a three-game series on February 27–28 and March 1, and at Southern Miss on March 4th. 
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This article was originally printed in The Local Voice #223 (published February 19, 2015.)
To download a PDF of this issue, click here.
