Column: Good season ends bad for Ole Miss

By Staff
Will Bardwell / staff writer
June 6, 2004 OXFORD Moments after Ole Miss' 7-2 loss to Washington on Saturday and the subsequent end to their season, Rebels coach Mike Bianco led a handful of players to their post-game press conference. Bianco opened with several sober comments about the disappointing end to his team's season. As much as the Rebels accomplished in 2004, they undoubtedly underachieved and Bianco knew it.
After a couple of minutes, senior outfielder Charlie Babineaux spoke up.
It would be a disservice to deny Ole Miss credit for its accomplishments, but the Rebels accomplished next to nothing over the last month.
Sure, the Rebels hosted an NCAA regional for the first time ever, but you don't get a trophy for that. Ole Miss' 18 wins in SEC play is a new school record and a nice step forward, but it doesn't buy a plane ticket to Omaha.
After completing a three-game sweep at Florida on May 16, Ole Miss controlled its own championship destiny in the SEC West. The Rebels edged LSU 7-6 on May 21, but collapsed immediately afterward. Ole Miss lost the last two games of the LSU series, then dropped its two SEC tournament contests.
By the final few innings of Saturday's loss, fans at Swayze Field had seen enough. At least twice, the Rebels met a smattering of boos as they trotted off the field.
This collapse wasn't as obscene as it was in 2002, when the Rebels went from sixth in the nation to sixth in the division in a month. It still wasn't pretty, though. Unlike two years ago, Ole Miss went to the SEC tournament this season, but it won just as many tourney games as in 2002 none. And while the Rebels didn't advance to an NCAA regional in 2002, they won just as many tournament games last weekend as in 2002 none.
In this age of parity in college sports, everybody has a good year every now and then, just as Ole Miss did this season. Simply getting to the postseason isn't good enough anymore. The Rebels had a chance to accomplish things never even dreamed of in Oxford, and they folded.
And while Ole Miss' six-game losing streak to finish this campaign mirrored the six-game skid that capped the 2002 season, this late-season misfortune wasn't irreversible. Look at Tulane, the No. 3 seed in the Oxford regional. The Green Wave lost four of their last five heading into the NCAA tournament, much as Ole Miss had dropped four straight.
Unlike the Rebels, though, Tulane turned things around. The Greenies beat second-seeded Washington 3-2 on Friday before downing Western Kentucky 7-0 on Saturday, and need to win just one of two games today to advance to a super regional.
In the midst of late-season doldrums, Tulane salvaged its season. Ole Miss did not.
The Rebels looked desperate and confused in their losses against Western Kentucky and Washington. Ole Miss hitters constantly swung at the first pitch. That's not always a good idea, and the Rebels proved it.
On Friday, for example, Ole Miss trailed 1-0 and hit into seven first-pitch outs, including all three in the ninth inning. Keep in mind, this was against a guy who averaged more than six walks per game and had only surrendered one in that game. He'd also thrown more than 100 pitches.
Every team goes through unlucky streaks, but when the Rebels got unlucky this season, they became overly aggressive. That led to desperation, which ultimately led to Ole Miss' downfall.
Bianco said the Rebels weren't too aggressive, but Washington pitcher Kyle Parker admitted that Ole Miss batters constantly bit on pitches he didn't think were hittable. As it turns out, he was right, but the Rebels nonetheless kept swinging away.
When things got rough over the last three weeks, what Ole Miss needed more than anything was patience.
Bianco and his players will have almost nine months to develop it.