Mike Bianco laments lack of Ole Miss baseball consistency after series loss to Alabama

OXFORD — Mike Bianco has seen this Ole Miss baseball team play well. That's what fuels his hope. It's also the root of his frustration.

The capability is plain to see. The Rebels have secured memorable wins over Mississippi State, Georgia and even on Friday night against Alabama in the past three weeks. But Ole Miss is not playing to those capabilities often enough to meet the expectations this program has developed during 24 seasons with Bianco at the helm.

After dropping two out of three games to the Crimson Tide at Swayze Field this weekend, the Rebels' path to an NCAA Regional looks more like a lightly used foot trail conquered by prickly overgrowth.

"You go back to the '22 team — and not because we're 7-14 or anything like that — but one of the things we've always said about that team is they showed up every day," Bianco said. "They were very consistent in the way they approach practice, the way they approach the game, the way they approach everything. This team's too inconsistent."

The Rebels (23-20, 7-14 SEC) have an unhappy tendency to get embarrassed when they lose. Eight of their 14 SEC defeats have come by at least seven runs. And those margins are often inflated by Ole Miss' inability to get out of its own way.

In Saturday's decisive rubber match against Alabama (28-16, 9-12), Ole Miss got a strong start from Mason Nichols, who didn't have his best stuff after returning from an injury. He pitched four innings of one-run ball anyway.

Once he left the game, the Rebels collapsed. Their bullpen faltered, sure, but twice they missed routine fly balls in the outfield to extend innings, unable to cope with the elements on a blustery, sunny afternoon.

Offensively, they didn't have an answer for Alabama freshman Zane Adams, who entered the game with a 4.54 ERA. Adams pitched into the eighth inning, allowing just one run before Jackson Ross finally chased him with a late home run in a game that was already decided.

"We've got the wind blowing out 20 miles an hour and we can't pull the ball in the air the whole day," Bianco said.

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Bianco was asked postgame why he believes this team has failed to achieve consistency, and whether there are certain traits his more dependable teams from the past have featured that this group lacks.

He said he didn't believe it was fair to discuss culture, leadership and chemistry during the season.

"When you're this close, you can't really analyze that kind of stuff," Bianco said. " . . . Sometimes you don't win because you're not good enough. You know, that's a fact. And that's probably more so than not. But there's times when you don't win because you don't show up enough, and that was kind of the message today."

It would be disingenuous to pretend these Rebels don't have serious roster construction problems. They don't have a true Friday night starter — they haven't won a series opener since their first SEC set of the season against South Carolina. Injuries and ineffectiveness have gradually depleted their bullpen into a unit that lacks reliability. The preseason plan at catcher hasn't worked out, and its lineup isn't the murderer's row some hoped it would be.

Still, undeniably, Ole Miss has the talent to catch the baseball reliably. It has the talent to make basic plays on the infield. It has the talent to handle a freshman lefthander better than it did against Alabama on Saturday in a 10-3 loss.

That's why Bianco can feel hopeful — and like an opportunity is passing him and his team by.

David Eckert covers Ole Miss for the Clarion Ledger. Email him at deckert@gannett.com or reach him on Twitter @davideckert98.

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This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Unpacking Ole Miss baseball's series loss to Alabama