SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE BASEBALL TOURNAMENT

May 25, 2021

Mike Bianco

Hoover Metropolitan Stadium

Mississippi Rebels

Postgame Press Conference

Mississippi 7, Auburn 4

THE MODERATOR: Coach, if you could, just open it up with an opening statement, and then we'll have questions for you.

MIKE BIANCO: You just had Doug up here. Obviously, he's one of the best, not only in our conference but in the country. It's a good feeling when you run him out there. The way he pitched, I think everybody's used to that, especially at Ole Miss.

It makes it a lot easier on day one knowing that you've got someone like Doug out there. I thought we got off to a great start offensively. McCants in the first inning with a big double after we gave up a run and got us back into the game. Of course, Doug settled down after that home run. Really, settled down isn't the right way to put it. Bliss is so good, gets a breaking ball that kind of got left over the middle of the plate and gets a great swing on it.

Great night by Jacob Gonzalez. Obviously, Hayden Dunhurst, a huge home run at the end, and Taylor Broadway does what Broadway does. We didn't want to bring him in in the seventh, especially in a dirty inning, but we had to. With our backs against the wall, you lose or go home. I think that's his 13th save, and 12 of them in the SEC. So pretty special.

Q. Going back to Doug there, he gave up that leadoff home run, but then I think he retired 15 straight, struck out 5 of 9 or something like that. Was it just a matter of him doing what he does? It seems like the one home run was the only real blemish on his day.

MIKE BIANCO: That's what -- I basically corrected myself -- and you've seen him. That's vintage Doug there through the first three or four innings. Again, not taking anything away from Bliss. He's terrific, and that was, I think, his 15th home run of the year. It was just a breaking ball that was down but, I think, got a little too much plate and just a really good swing by him.

It wasn't settled down, it's just I thought Doug just pitched the way Doug normally does on a couple days less rest.

Q. I know this is kind of looking ahead a little bit, but what's your pitching plan for tomorrow against Vanderbilt?

MIKE BIANCO: Not sure yet. We'll get back to the hotel tonight and discuss it a little more. Yeah, I'd probably rather leave it at that before we go down that road.

Q. Could you talk a little bit about Justin Bench's inside-the-park home run?

MIKE BIANCO: Yeah, I got a little nervous because, when we had the ground rules, they talked about caps on the fence, and the ball, even if it goes over the yellow line, if it hits this cap and comes back, I had never heard that. Gosh, I've been here forever, and I had never heard that, and they discussed it a little bit. I jokingly said, okay, we'll leave it up to you guys in instant replay.

Amazingly we get one, right? Ball hits the cap and bounces back, so I'm screaming at Bench to run, and thankfully it hit really square and caromed over into foul territory. It was an easy in-the-parker. I've been at this stadium for 20 years, and I've never seen that.

Q. Chatagnier and Dunhurst struggled. They both got pretty big hits tonight in their first ever games at Hoover for these old rookies. What does it mean for these guys to get those big hits kind of breaking out of a funk?

MIKE BIANCO: Obviously, they're a huge part of our offense, and we're not quite the team without those guys kind of going on all cylinders. It was nice. I knew Dunhurst hitting that home run, obviously, late, gives us a cushion, feeling a little bit better going into the last couple innings. Dunhurst swung it well Game 3 at Georgia as well, so I think he's back to being his normal self. I think that's big. I think confidence is a huge thing, and this time of year, whenever you can have a good game, sometimes it will propel you the rest of the way.