No. 25 Ole Miss secured a SEC series win Saturday, run-ruling No. 24 LSU 12-2 at Swayze Field. Behind another solid pitching performance from Cade Townsend and offensive explosion in the middle innings, the Rebels celebrated a big win against the defending national champions.
Afterwards, Ole Miss coach Mike Bianco talked to reporters about the game, Townsend’s performance and Owen Paino’s hot streak. Here’s everything he said.
Mike Bianco, Head Coach
On Cade Townsend’s start…
I think sometimes guys can internalize things in big moments — big game, big crowd — and you want guys who really want it. Maybe early on he wanted it a little too much and missed a few spots. But that’s a really good offense over there, so you have to give them credit.
After the second inning, though, he really settled in. Honestly, he was better in just about every measurement — velocity, location, all of it. He was going to go back out there in the seventh, but we had back-to-back long innings, and it just took too much time. It wasn’t about the lead — we would’ve left him in otherwise — it was just the length of those innings.
put on a clinic @cadetownsendmlb pic.twitter.com/dFR1xhANSG
— Ole Miss Baseball (@OleMissBSB) April 12, 2026
On in-game plan adjustment by Townsend…
Yeah, I think if you watch enough, you can see it. Cade’s a super talented guy with great stuff — and I mean an array of pitches. Probably more than anyone we’ve ever had. That’s part of why he’s so good — he doesn’t rely on just one pitch.
He’s got a fastball, curveball, slider, cutter, splitter — now even a two-seam. There’s a lot in the toolkit. But early on, you could tell they were really leaning on the cutter. It felt like every cutter he threw, they had good swings on it.
That’s a big-league pitch, but credit to them. He gave up some hits in the first couple innings, but he and Bangor — calling the pitches — made a great adjustment. They leaned more on the slider and the fastball.
Even though the splitter wasn’t great for him today, he kept throwing it. Sometimes you’ve got to show it enough to keep those left-handers honest. Overall, it was a really good in-game adjustment by both of them.
On LSU’s William Schmidt…
Sometimes you look up at the scoreboard and it feels like things are moving fast, but if you step back, he didn’t give up any hits early. What stood out to me was the pitch count in the top right corner — it kept climbing.
He was working at a higher pitch count and moving quicker than Townsend early. They were kind of going in opposite directions. He was getting into more three-ball counts, too.
Even though we didn’t have much to show for it early, I was proud of our guys. He’s terrific — going to be a big-time winner. We didn’t see him last year, but you heard how good he could be, and now you’re seeing it. He’s having an outstanding year.
I thought we did a good job running his pitch count up and eventually putting an inning together. That’s what you have to do against an ace. And today, even though it was game two, it felt like two aces out there — probably two future big leaguers.
On Owen Paino…
Yeah, he looks terrific. I said it last night — I’m just really proud of him. It hasn’t been an easy road for him, but he’s been a great teammate and he’s worked incredibly hard.
You’re proud of his success, but it’s also really cool for other people to finally see what we’ve known. We’ve always known how good of a player he is and what he can become. Now everyone else is getting to see that too.
