Rebs trying to prevent repeat

By By Will Bardwell / staff writer
May 6, 2004
Is history repeating itself in Oxford?
Sunday's 3-0 loss to No. 7 South Carolina marked the second time in as many weeks that No. 12 (Baseball America) Ole Miss lost a three-game series in the Southeastern Conference. The Rebels have now lost eight of their last 10 games overall, and in doing so have resurrected ghosts of one of the most titanic collapses in SEC baseball history.
In April 2002, Ole Miss took two out of three from then-No. 2 Alabama and came within one game of the Crimson Tide in the SEC West standings. The Rebels were rewarded with a No. 6 national ranking the highest in the program's history and were in contention not only for a division championship but an NCAA regional. A berth in the SEC tournament was little more than an afterthought.
But the victories over Alabama marked Ole Miss' last series win of the season. The Rebels lost 10 of their last 12 SEC games and tumbled down the league standings. By the end of the season, Ole Miss not only lost its national ranking but even failed to qualify for the SEC tournament.
In less than a month, the Rebels went from sixth in the country to sixth in the division.
Eerily reminiscent of the prelude to that month-long skid was Ole Miss' ranking after a sweep of Tennessee three weeks ago No. 6.
And while Ole Miss' current slide has not yet developed into a monumental collapse, it has cost the Rebels their spot atop the SEC West. Ole Miss is now 33-14 overall and 12-9 in the SEC tied with LSU for second place and three games behind first-place Arkansas.
If the Rebels are to recover, their upcoming set against the No. 8 Razorbacks would be a good place to start. Arkansas visits Ole Miss for three games beginning Friday.
Only three weekends remain in the regular season, and the Rebels' road back to the top of the standings is a tough one. All three of Ole Miss' remaining series are against higher-ranked opponents the Razorbacks, at No. 11 Florida on May 14-16, and at home against No. 5 LSU on May 21-23.
And while the Rebels are nonetheless in good position to play in the SEC tournament for the second straight year, their in-state rivals have work to do.
At 28-18 overall and 8-13 in league play, Mississippi State is on the outside looking in. The Bulldogs are two games behind Vanderbilt for the final bid to the conference tournament, which takes the top two teams from each division and the four remaining teams with the highest in-conference records.
Mississippi State is coming off a three-game sweep at the hands of the Commodores a week ago and has won just two of its seven SEC series this season. The Bulldogs close the regular season May 21-23 against SEC West bottom-dweller Alabama. But before that opportunity for a strong finish, Mississippi State must host Georgia this weekend and then Arkansas the next.
Georgia, which brings a conference-best nine-game winning streak into Starkville, is in second place in the SEC East at 30-15 overall and 12-9 in conference games.