How Ole Miss baseball players, coaches reacted to finally reaching to College World Series

OMAHA, Neb. — Ole Miss baseball coach Mike Bianco called his team's season a trip "to Hell and back." It's not clear if he's exaggerating.

The Rebels arrived in Omaha on Wednesday for the 2022 College World Series, Ole Miss' first return to college baseball's biggest stage since 2014. Bianco has coached in Omaha as an assistant and a head coach before, but for his players, this trip is a validation of years of knocking on the door and finally getting in.

"We've had a lot of really good teams since I've been here," fifth-year senior captain Tim Elko said Thursday. "It feels like a good accomplishment to get here. But it's not our goal to get to Omaha. It's our goal to win a national championship. We're ready to do that and play well."

COACHING FOR HIS JOB?: Ole Miss baseball Mike Bianco heard the critics. Here's how he went from the hot seat to Omaha

TOP OF THE PILE: Inside Ole Miss baseball's dogpile celebration: 'I'd rather be there than any other spot'

The last five years of Ole Miss baseball have been an exercise in patience. The 2018 team lost a home regional as a national seed. The 2019 team came up one win shy of the College World Series. The 2020 team had its promising season pulled out from under it by COVID-19, wasting a year that ended on a 16-game winning streak. The 2021 team also came up one win shy of the College World Series.

Then, in 2022, the roller coaster started whipping up and down.

The Rebels were a preseason top-five team that reached No. 1 in the polls by the end of March. Then came a brutal six-week stretch with five SEC series losses where the Rebels were swept at home twice and fell to 7-14 in SEC play.

After that the Rebels caught fire, won eight of their last 11 games to sneak into the NCAA Tournament with the final at-large bid, then swept the Coral Gables Regional and Hattiesburg Super Regional to get to the College World Series by outscoring its postseason opponents 46-11.

"This has been a really cool story up to this point," Bianco said. "To watch them get through all of that, from the very high at the beginning of the season to about as low as you can get and to get back here, it's been neat. To me, the 'neat' is not personal. It's to watch (the players) take pictures and appreciate it and the genuine happiness and fulfillment to this point."

Ole Miss' last trip to Omaha was pretty successful. The Rebels went 2-2, making it to the tournament semifinals before losing to Virginia. Bianco said he challenged his players in 2014 to come to the tournament and succeed. That's the similar challenge he's giving this time around, starting with Saturday's opener against Auburn (6 p.m., ESPN2).

Seniors like Elko, Justin Bench, Kevin Graham and Max Cioffi have endured the lows of the near misses but also the highs of so many wins. For Elko, someone who grew up watching the College World Series, getting to end his career where he is is one of the ultimate joys.

"It was an amazing moment," Elko said of first walking into the stadium. "I've always dreamed of playing in Omaha. I finally got here my last year. Just a really cool moment being out there with all the guys and taking ground balls and taking it all in. Really cool."

Contact Nick Suss at 601-408-2674 or nsuss@gannett.com. Follow @nicksuss on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: How Ole Miss baseball reacted to finally arriving at College World Series