Ole Miss opens SEC Tournament play with Vanderbilt

Ole Miss baseball earned the nine seed in the SEC Tournament and now faces Vanderbilt in the first round on Tuesday.

An early rain delay Tuesday morning might roll back some start times, but currently the game is set for 4:30 p.m. The Rebels (32-21, 14-16 SEC) plan to send Dylan DeLucia to the mound against the Commodores (35-19, 14-16 SEC).

Projections seem to be favorable for both Ole Miss and Vanderbilt in regards to the NCAA Tournament, but both teams would probably sleep better with another SEC win in the bag. The winner of Ole Miss/Vanderbilt goes on to play No. 1 Tennessee who has ran roughshod over anything and everything this season.

PROJECTED STARTERS

Ole Miss: RHP Dylan DeLucia - 5-1, 4.60 ERA

Vanderbilt: LHP Carter Holton - 7-3, 3.42 ERA

The Rebels and ‘Dores did not play each other this season, and both programs are having down years compared to previous seasons. Vandy just this past weekend was swept by LSU in Nashville while the Rebels dropped a series to Texas A&M in Oxford. Ole Miss last won the SEC Tournament in 2018, but it has been a part of the championship series two of the last three times around and has reached the semifinals every year since 2018.

Of course, in the many televised games against Vandy, fans will have to endure the Whistler, and honestly at this point, it would be great if ESPN and everyone just quit paying attention to this loser. He’s more about himself than any team in my opinion.

A deep run in the SEC Tournament may improve Ole Miss’ postseason seeding or how far this team has to travel, but to me any chance of hosting a regional disappeared long ago and will not reappear. I would like to see this team have one more crack at Tennessee, because they’re number one and swept the Rebels earlier in the year. It likely won’t end well, but it would be great to see an upset and UT’s hothead coach maybe start a fire in their dugout or something.

Keep checking Red Cup throughout the week for updates on the SEC Tournament as long as the Rebels are hanging in it, so maybe only today? Cheers!