I get a bit of a funny feeling sitting down to write this post. Heading into this season, the amount of uncertainty surrounding this team was equal to the amount of alcohol consumed during the Ole Miss/Texas football weekend. Ok maybe not THAT much, but the fact remains that there were a lot of question marks surrounding this team, and for Ole Miss fans question marks are almost always a cause for pessimism.
We knew we had a solid Friday night starter in Chris Ellis followed by Christian Trent and Sam Smith to fill in the rest of the weekend. We also knew we'd have to rely on the bats of Will Allen and Sikes Orvis as it seemed Austin Bousfield regressed quite a bit during his sophomore year. The biggest question mark was with the incoming class of Juco transfers and freshmen who were going to have to fill in crucial roles right away. Thankfully for us, the Ole Miss baseball team has answered these questions in spades: Both Ellis and Trent have been named to the College Baseball Foundation's Pitcher of the Year watch list (Ole Miss is one of only two schools to have two); Allen and Orvis, with 50 runs batted in together, have already single handedly surpassed their total from last season (44); Boz has bounced back from his sophomore slump, recently being tagged as the national hitter of the week after a stellar weekend against Kentucky; and freshmen like Errol Robinson and JB Woodman along with Juco transfer Braxton Lee have established themselves as clutch players with their gloves and at the plate.
Now the Rebs are coming off a road sweep of a ranked opponent in Kentucky, one that many national pundits thought would be the 5th and final SEC host school. After the sweep, barring a complete and total WAOM meltdown, the Rebs are a favorite to host, at minimum, a post season regional. As it stands heading into this weekend, the Rebs are tied for first in the SEC West with Alabama, with LSU trailing by only a tie game (the Tigers tied with UGA earlier in the season due to Sunday travel restrictions). Here's a look at the other potential SEC host sites, the rest of their schedules and level of difficulty, plus their chances of being a national seed. RPI and SOS courtesy of Warren Nola RPI while difficulty and host/seed percentages are my own super scientific shots in the dark.
Ole Miss (33-12, 13-8 in conference):
- RPI: 7
- Overall SOS thus far: 14
- Remaining SEC schedule: Arkansas, UGA , @A&M
- Remaining SEC schedule difficulty on 1-10 scale: 4
- Host chances? 85%
- National seed chances?: 50%
Florida (30-15, 15-6 SEC):
- RPI: 3
- Overall SOS thus far: 1
- Remaining SEC schedule: @Alabama, Vandy, @Tennessee
- Remaining SEC schedule difficulty on 1-10 scale: 7
- Host chances? 100%
- National seed chances?: 95%
LSU (34-11, 12-8-1 SEC):
- RPI: 16
- Overall SOS thus far: 48
- Remaining SEC schedule: @A&M, Alabama, @Auburn
- Remaining SEC schedule difficulty on 1-10 scale: 6
- Host chances? 85%
- National seed chances?: 50%
South Carolina (34-11, 12-9 SEC):
- RPI: 6
- Overall SOS thus far: 17
- Remaining SEC schedule: @UGA, Missouri, @Vandy
- Remaining SEC schedule difficulty on 1-10 scale: 7
- Host chances? 95%
- National seed chances?: 90%
Alabama (29-15, 13-8 SEC):
- RPI: 18
- Overall SOS thus far: 20
- Remaining SEC schedule: Florida, @LSU, MSU
- Remaining SEC schedule difficulty on 1-10 scale: 8
- Host chances? 50%
- National seed chances?: 20%
Vanderbilt (33-12, 11-10 SEC):
- RPI: 9
- Overall SOS thus far: 19
- Remaining SEC schedule: @Missouri, @Florida, South Carolina
- Remaining SEC schedule difficulty on 1-10 scale: 9
- Host chances? 40%
- National seed chances?: 5%