Mississippi State baseball coach Brian O’Connor was just about to board the team bus for Oxford when we talked by phone Thursday afternoon. Yes, O’Connor said, he has mighty fine and fond memories of his first visit to Swayze Field nearly 17 years ago.
You would, too. In a memorable NCAA Super Regional, O’Connor’s Virginia Cavaliers battled back from a 12-inning, 4-3 Game One defeat, to defeat Mike Bianco’s Rebels 4-3 and then 5-2 to advance to the College World Series. It was fantastic college baseball, matching two talented, well-coached teams. It was June college baseball at its best with the outcome often hanging on every pitch.
Rick ClevelandSaid O’Connor, “You don’t forget something like that, especially when it sends you to Omaha for the first time.”
There won’t be a trip to the College World Series on the line this weekend, but O’Connor’s first Mississippi State-Ole Miss experience definitely matches two teams that have Omaha and national championship potential.
“This is just another reason why you come to the SEC to coach or play baseball,” O’Connor said. “You play high-level opponents every weekend with great crowds and great rivalries.”
Mississippi State, ranked as highly as No 3 in the nation, will take a 21-4 record (4-2 in the SEC) to face the Rebels (19-7, 3-3), also ranked in most polls.
The Egg Bowl of baseball
This will be O’Connor’s introduction to the Egg Bowl of baseball, and he hasn’t experienced an in-state rivalry anything like this. At Virginia, his arch-rival, at least in-state, was Virginia Tech. It’s hard to call it an intense rivalry when you dominate a team as thoroughly Virginia as dominated Tech. During O’Connor’s Virginia tenure, the Cavaliers won 42 of 61 meetings against their in-state rivals in what Virginians call the “Commonwealth Clash.”
The Ole Miss-Mississippi State baseball rivalry, which these days includes a three-game SEC series and a Governor’s Cup mid-week game, is not nearly so one-sided. State leads the series 268-213-5. Last season, State won two of three games at Starkville and Ole Miss prevailed in the Governor’s Cup.
“It’s two great college baseball programs that just happen to be in the state of Mississippi,” O’Connor said. “I’m excited to be a part of it and I know our players are looking forward to it, as well. No doubt, it’s the same way at Ole Miss.”
Mike BiancoState’s new skipper has the utmost respect for his Ole Miss counterpart, Bianco.
“Mike has been the staple of consistency at Ole Miss,” O’Connor said. “I’ve always had a high level of respect for him and the job he has done there, and just the way he runs his program. He’s a good man, and his teams play the the game the right way.”
Besides the to 2009 Super Regional at Oxford, O’Connor’s Cavs also played Ole Miss twice in the 2014 College World Series, winning two close, low-scoring games, the second of which eliminated Ole Miss. O’Connor was an interested observer in June 2022 when Bianco’s Rebels, given up virtually for dead earlier in the spring, got hot in May and stunningly won the College World Series.
“To do what that team did to win the national championship is a testament to what Mike has built there,” O’Connor said.
Rebels’ Hunter Elliott is still pitching
The Ole Miss pitcher who started that national championship-clinching victory over Oklahoma as a true freshman will be the same left-hander who starts Friday night’s first game of the State-Ole Miss series. Seems like Hunter Elliott has been around forever, and certainly long enough to get O’Connor’s attention.
“Elliott has been one of the premier pitchers college baseball for years, and they’ve got some really good bullpen options,” O’Connor said. “Plus, they’ve got a lot of guys in that lineup who hit the ball a long, long way.”
Ole Miss’s Hunter Elliott pitches during an NCAA baseball game against Miami on Sunday, June 5, 2022, in Coral Gables, Fla. Credit: AP Photo/Doug MurrayState will counter with a deep roster of sluggers, fresh from a 12-0 Tuesday night trouncing of No. 11 Southern Miss. State’s hitting numbers are nothing short of gaudy: a .347 team batting average, a .452 on base percentage, a .571 slugging percentage. 39 home runs and 66 doubles in 25 games. Sheepish!
“There’s power in our lineup, and there’s speed,” O’Connor said. “We can score runs anywhere in the batting order. That’s what makes great offense. Plus we’ve got depth. We’ve got guys not in the lineup who can really swing it.”
Yes, O’Connor answered, when asked if his first State teams compares favorably with some of his best hitting teams at Virginia, seven of which advanced to Omaha.
“Now, we’ll have to see how it plays out,” O’Connor said. “We’ve got eight more SEC weekends when we’ll face top-flight pitching. There’s a long way to go.”
It starts Friday night at 6:30 p.m. followed by a 1:30 p.m. game Saturday and a 3 p.m. game Sunday.
A rivalry that has given us the likes of Casey Stengel, Dudy Noble, Tom Swayze, Paul Gregory, Ron Polk, Jake Gibbs, John Cohen and Mike Bianco gives us Brian O’Connor for the first time.
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