This is the second installment of the SEC opponent preview series. Bat Cats Central intern Jonathon Bruner will break down each conference opponent on the Wildcats' schedule. Next up is Ole Miss.
Kentucky baseball will travel to Oxford, Mississippi, for a a Thursday – Saturday series starting on March 19. Bat Cat Central will have you covered with each SEC opponent as the season nears closer.
Quick Hitters
Head coach: Mike Bianco (976-588-1 overall, 906-543-1 at Ole Miss)
Assistant coaches: Mike Clement (hitting coach, assistant head coach), Carl Lafferty (recruiting coordinator, assistant head coach), Joel Mangrum (pitching coach, assistant head coach)
All-time series: Ole Miss leads the series 56-40.
Most recent meeting: You don’t have to turn the clock back too far for the last time these two programs squared off, as the Rebels were at Kentucky Proud Park in early April 2025.
Game one of a doubleheader saw an extra-innings finish as James McCoy worked out of a jam on the bump in the 10th before Devin Burkes ended the game with a walk-off single to give Kentucky a 5-4 win. Game two was another tight pitchers' duel, but a two-run pinch-hit homer by Campbell Smithwick propelled Ole Miss to a 3-1 win. After the split doubleheader, game three was another tightly fought game that went into extra innings. The Rebels took an 11th-inning lead, but Luke Lawrence kept the game alive with an RBI single. However, Burke, who represented the winning run, was thrown out at home, forcing the game to the 12th inning. Luke Hill hit a two-run home run that proved to be the dagger.
Kentucky's Cole Hage hit a solo shot in the bottom half, but it was not enough as Ole Miss won game three 5-4 to take the series.
2025 Review
The 2025 campaign marked the third season since the Rebels won the 2022 national championship during their memorable run to Omaha. But since then, the hangover has been long-lasting.
Ole Miss finished 25-29 with a 6-24 SEC record in 2023. The 2024 season was not much kinder as Ole Miss finished 27-29 overall and 11-19 in conference play. This was enough to make the SEC Tournament, but it took just one game to end the Rebels' season.
Those rough seasons set the stage for a bounce-back season from Bianco and his squad. Ole Miss started the year with three ranked opponents in the Shriners Children's College Showdown, and it finished with a 2-1 record. The competition eased up a bit during the non-conference slate as the Rebels went on a 13-game winning streak. It was snapped in a midweek road matchup against South Alabama before SEC play began.
Ole Miss took down then-No. 3 Arkansas to open SEC play, but dropped the next two to lose the series. This trend held up through most of SEC play as it only swept Missouri but was never swept, finishing 16-14 in the league.
As the season progressed to the Hoover Met for the new SEC Tournament format, which was single-elimination, the No. 7 seed Rebels rolled all the way to the title game by defeating Florida, Arkansas, and LSU before falling to Vanderbilt 3-2 in the title game.
The regular season and SEC tourney run were enough for Ole Miss to host a regional in the NCAA Tournament. However, Murray State upset the Rebels to open the regional. This meant the Rebels had to win four straight and beat the Racers twice. Ole Miss won three straight to set the stage for a regional-deciding game five, but Murray State won 12-11 to end Ole Miss’ season. The Racers went on to defeat Duke in the Super Regional to reach the College World Series for the first time.
The 2025 season was a big-time rebound in Oxford after some hard times. Ole Miss will look to keep that rolling this year.
Players to know
LHP Hunter Elliott- Starting off with an elite left-hander, Hunter Elliott is the workhorse on the mound for the Rebels and had a solid redshirt junior year. Elliott led the Rebels in essentially every pitching category as he worked 85.2 innings and posted a 2.94 ERA. The lefty finished with a 10-3 record and 102 strikeouts, which marked just the fifth time in program history a pitcher has struck out 100-plus and won at least 10 games. His 2025 campaign has him tabbed as a Third Team All-American by Perfect Game in 2026.
1B Will Furniss- Furniss is coming into his senior season in 2026. Unlike your typical first baseman, who is a low average, high power kind of bat, Furniss finished second on the team in walks (43) and on-base percentage at .424, while coming third in batting average at .305. Furniss is still a home run threat – he hit 12 in 2025 – but the potential is there for Furniss to become a complete hitter in 2026 with production across the board.
INF Judd Utermark- The big power threat for the Rebels will come in the form of Judd Utermark, who led the team with 22 home runs in 2025. That mark was just two shy of tying the single-season home run record. He also led the Rebels in RBIs with 69 last season. The complete slash line for Utermark was .294/.376/.599. Utermark is primarily an infielder but can play in the outfield, providing a lot of versatility for Bianco.
C Austin Fawley- Remember him? Austin Fawley transferred from Kentucky after the 2024 season. Fawley had a strong 2025, hitting the most homers by a catcher under Bianco with 21. He finished with a .256/.386/.648 slash line in his sophomore season. Defensively, Fawley did not allow a passed ball in SEC play.
2026 Outlook
There is a lot to like about the 2026 season for the Rebels on paper, but some questions around the pitching staff could hold Bianco’s squad back. Elliott will keep the Rebels in a ballgame every Friday night, but putting that much of a load on him could come back to hurt them come May.
The bats look solid and some holes left by last year's team were filled with players like Illinois State transfer Daniel Pacella, but the real noise will be made by the returnees. If the players who put together good years at the plate last year take that next step, there will not be a lot of holes in this lineup. Furthermore, the Rebels aren’t one-dimensional. They have contact hitters and power hitters, making the lineup harder for opposing pitchers to work through.
When the postseason arrives, this edition of the Rebels could be in the mix once again for a host spot, but if some arms step up and the lineup delivers, Ole Miss could be a solid squad in 2026. However, many of those are “ifs,” and if it goes the other way, it could be another regional exit for the Rebels.
