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As a lifelong April-to-June Ole Miss baseball fan, it was a little disorienting to find myself invested in a baseball series before March. Yet, there I was, sweating out the Saturday and Sunday games against Louisville like it was some regional or Super Regional final we were absolutely going to lose.
It was nice for a change to not have a series or game end in Ole Miss fans logging on to Twitter dot com to scream about a bunt or defensive substitution that numbs the mind. In honor of Mike Bianco improving his record to 5-0 in home weekend series against the number one team in the country, we fire up an all-baseball power rankings.
(1) Making People Upset On The Net
If you recall, and how could you not, Ole Miss won the third and series-deciding game after Hayden Dunhurst, without leaping from his stance, threw out a Louisville baserunner to end the game. Ole Miss players were quite excited, particularly second baseman Peyton Chatagnier and shortstop Anthony Servideo.
The catcher caught a runner stealing to beat the No. 2 team in the country.
— ESPN (@espn) February 17, 2020
EVERYONE in the infield lost it (via @olemissbsb, @secnetwork) pic.twitter.com/yoXiRcgLMv
Predictably, because Ole Miss players having fun was involved, people got quite angry online. Like so deliciously angry that said fun ruined their Sunday.
To accurately measure this anger, I created a chart to help explain just how mad some people got, based on their number of viewings of the celebration.
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For example, the people who can’t wait to kick Ole Miss’ teeth in (as if they have a say in the outcome of the games) watched the video well north of 10 times because that’s a healthy thing to do as a non-Ole Miss fan.
(2) Celebration
Look, I know Top Gun: Maverick is most likely done filming, but if they don’t edit this high five into the inevitable callback volleyball scene, WE RIOT.
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Jk, we will excuse the oversight, but we will demand it appears in Top Gun: Maverick Jr.
(3) Look At How High The Dang Ball Is
Post-off-the-dirt spike from Chatagnier:
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You could stack two Chatagniers beneath that height.
(4) Traditional Celebration
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(5) Cael Baker
Our dinger-hitting, husky, flowing locks son went 5-12, with two home runs and five RBIs over the weekend. It was enough to get himself on the radar of the Golden Spikes Award, which you may have heard is an award for people who do baseball well.
Starting the 2020 season
— Golden Spikes Award (@USAGoldenSpikes) February 18, 2020
Cael Baker's incredible Saturday earns him the first #GoldenSpikes @d1baseball Performance of the Week of 2020 - awarded to the best single-game performance each week. Congrats, @Baker_Cael12! pic.twitter.com/MZcvx3wMWV
(6) Mike Bianco
Coming into this season, Bianco was a coach that didn’t have his contract rolled over and his continued employment wasn’t supported by many in the fanbase. Who knows where this season goes, but in the face of that heat, he took a series from the number one team in the country while plugging in a lot of new players.
(7) Back To That Throw
Again, Dunhurst did not come out of his stance or step in to the throw, and this happened:
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(8) This Sandwich Not Being Served At Swayze Field
Hot dog delight! My favorite birthday dinner! pic.twitter.com/yaNAPQtM5M
— Mark Richt (@MarkRicht) February 18, 2020
Mark Richt, UNRETIRE BECAUSE WHAT ARE YOU DOING?
There are about 4.3 billion food-related things on Twitter that are disgusting and/or bland as hell, but this, this is may be the most repulsive non-mayonnaise-related thing I have ever seen. It might even top super-gross mayonnaise-related things.
WHY WOULD YOU CONSIDER EATING THIS EVEN ONCE?
Our best wishes to the Richt family as they get him into the finest clinics where he can receive injections to stop this madness.
(9) Back To Our Husky Son
Fam, just sending a 97-mph fastball into orbit.
How about a multi-homer game on your first weekend as a Rebel? @Baker_Cael12 | #SundaySwings pic.twitter.com/YEkVZjSctr
— Ole Miss Baseball (@OleMissBSB) February 17, 2020
Lol @ that arm extension.
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(10) Beating Alcorn State
Our potential 70-1 sons were almost out here trying to make me re-write the majority of this post. Thanks to the fellas for getting it in gear on Wednesday night and not making me do more work. It is February (FEBRUARY), and I do not need all of this. We still have 10.5 months to go in 2020.