Let the good times roll in Oxford all the way to Omaha, Nebraska.
Ole Miss is headed to its first College World Series since its magical 2022 championship run after beating SEC rival Auburn 5-3 Saturday to win the Auburn Super Regional. It was an exciting game that you can read more about here.
After the game, coach Mike Bianco, pitcher Taylor Rabe and first baseman Will Furniss spoke to reporters about the game and advancing to the CWS for the seventh time in program history.
Here’s everything they said.
Mike Bianco, Head Coach
Opening statement…
irst, congratulations to Butch Thompson and the Auburn baseball team. What a tremendous year they’ve had. They played, I think, the most difficult schedule in the country, and they played great from start to finish. Congratulations to the Auburn administration. Two nights and two days of just an unbelievable atmosphere here. Obviously, as I sit here, I’m very proud of my guys. It wasn’t easy. At some point, I’d like to go back and watch the games because it had to be two hell of games that the fans got to see, not just here live, but on television.
Our beat reporters have heard us say and kind of use the mantra that we handle hard well, and our guys have done it. They did it last weekend in a very difficult regional in Lincoln, Nebraska, and then with a great opponent and great atmosphere here, our guys just continued to handle it. Obviously today, a great performance by Taylor. He got so deep into the game. It’s amazing. When you’re really good, people can be very critical of how you’re doing and what you’re doing. But if you step back and say, “Hey, you’re going to be in a super regional championship game with a chance to go to Omaha, and your starting pitcher is going to pitch seven innings and only give up two runs,” there’s not a coach in the country that wouldn’t take that. I’m proud of Will. Big home run, and he’s part of that senior group with Hunter Elliott, Will and Judd Utermark that have been here for four years. Early on, of course, we talk about Hunter, who’s been here like 10 years. He was part of the national championship. But Judd and Will came here the year after, and their road to this point hasn’t always been easy.
But, man, the way they hung in there and stuck by one another. Early on, they were just great teammates, and then they developed into great leaders and faces of the program. How fitting to have those guys here. You guys have heard me say that to win, you need your stars to show up, and certainly Will and Judd and those guys showed up this weekend.
On importance of keeping players in the program…
The time you’re talking about, that was the first time we lost players and really felt that. Maybe I was a little naive. Maybe I wasn’t ready for that. But in this era, sometimes that happens. When I think back to Will and guys who were good players — Judd and those guys — looking at your face and saying, “No, I’m good. I’m here.” Back then, Luke Hill was a big leader on the team, and there was this contingency of guys who kind of held it together. Certainly, you appreciate it. In this era of NIL and the transfer portal, so much is put on the kids. It’s hard. It’s pressure from parents, pressure from agents, pressure from a lot of different people. But you appreciate the guys who stick it out. You’ve got to think about guys like Will and Judd. They weren’t stars at that time. Will had a really good freshman year. Judd didn’t play much his freshman year. For those guys to look back at it now, three years later from that point, you appreciate how cool that is for those guys to be in that dogpile. Guys who stuck it out. Guys who love Ole Miss. Their parents and families are here every weekend, the way it’s supposed to be. I think that part of it makes you feel good.
On impact of assistant coaches on team’s success…
One, we’re not sitting here without Joel Mangrum. What an impact he’s made. That’s not to take anything away from any of the other coaches, but you can tell by not just the results — and that’s obvious — but the way we pitch. Being top four in the conference this past season, and then to win here. You can’t win here and you can’t beat these guys unless you pitch because they’re not going to give up runs. They’re so good on the mound. The impact of that is amazing. Then to watch Carl Lafferty and others. Carl Lafferty put a plan in place to restructure the roster and put us in position. Of course, Clem doesn’t get enough credit. Those guys have been here forever. They’ve been able to adapt, adjust and continue to put us in position to have success. To your point with the homegrown guys, as much as we talk about the portal and everything else, it’s hard to do it without the guys who come out of high school. That’s not to say that when you get guys like Bissetta or Decker and others, they’re certainly going to make an impact, and that’s what you hope. But we’re not in Omaha without the guys who came here originally.
On Ole Miss fan contingent at Plainsman Park…
The Ole Miss family shows up, and I know they’ll show up in Omaha next weekend. It’s neat. Not as many, obviously, in Nebraska. That’s far away. But it was neat that this was drivable, and so many people showed up. Just to come out of the gate and walk over here, you walk through a flood of people. Again, another thing I’m proud of is that baseball is important at our school. People love Ole Miss baseball. For people to show up and be excited — and they’re not just parents. There are only so many parents. The parents are there all the time, but to watch the people who travel with us, and we’ll see that again next week, that’s really cool.
On making tough lineup, pitching decisions…
That’s part of the deal. Part of the deal is making the tough decisions. Two years ago, I’ve been the head coach for a long time, but I’ve also worked with the pitchers and done different things. I had to step back and kind of redefine my role. It makes me cringe a little bit, and I don’t know why, but more the manager and less the coach. I want to be the coach. But I’m blessed and surrounded with some really, really good coaches. To be the manager, you’ve got to let the coaches coach and then manage them. You talk and understand what they’re doing and where we are, and you fill in and give advice when that time is possible.
Every morning — and it happened again this morning — Clem is an early bird, so he’s the first one down with the coffee. We sit down and break down the opponent’s pitcher and the relief options that are possibly going to come in. We sit and talk about lineups, usually write about two or three different lineups. I’m happy with two or three, and he gets to pick the final one. Then I get to sit with Joel and listen to what the pitching plan for that day is. These are things I didn’t do a couple years ago that have enabled me to be a better manager and a better head coach. That’s because I’ve got great coaches under me.
On stormtrooper helmet…
I felt like I had no choice. Hudson Calhoun brought it out in front of what seemed like about 500 Ole Miss fans, so you’ve got to put it on. I remember the day it showed up in the meeting room. I like Star Wars, but the kids make fun of me. I’ve only seen the first one and a little bit of the second one, so I know there are like 10 of them, and I catch flak for that. But the first one was the best. I put it on in Gainesville, so I think they thought it was all right to do after that. Then, obviously, Judd put it on the first time. That’s one of the cool things about college baseball. It’s always been there. The kids, how genuine and sincere they are with their teammates. We talk about the bus, but the bus, the locker room — they spend so much time with one another and have these little quirky things that they think are so cool, whether that’s handshakes or different things. It’s neat that there are so many of you out there that get to take pictures and know about it. For years, this has been going on for 30 or 40 years. Nobody ever knew about it. Now, in the last 10 or 15 years, there are cameras and video everywhere, so it’s been pretty neat.
On similarities between 2014, 2022 and 2026 Ole Miss teams…
That’s hard. I don’t know why, but it’s hard for me because every team seems different. I’ll just talk about the 2022 team because there aren’t many people in here who really remember the 2014 team. The 2022 team had a little different path. Todd Walker and Tom Hart, in our interview on Thursday, were talking about it. Todd was talking about the similarities. That team was obviously the proverbial last team in. This team wasn’t that. This team was one of the last teams not to host. They were one of the teams that was for sure going to get in. It was just, would we win a game or two in Hoover to be able to host? Unfortunately, that didn’t happen.
The similarity I would think of is how tough they are, how close-knit they are and how they show up every single day regardless of good, bad or indifferent. You’ve heard us say they shower well, and they do. That’s the metaphor we use to be able to put yesterday behind you, move on to the next day and be present. The 2022 team was remarkable at that, and this team has had a tougher road to get to Omaha. The 2022 team played so well. Sometimes you also get a break when the opponents don’t play as well. I think about it, and I don’t know how many close games we had in the five to get to Omaha. I remember the Miami game. The opening night against Arizona was close for a while, then we kind of extended it. After that, the other three games weren’t even close. We played two extra-inning games in Lincoln and one game where they had the tying run at the plate when we made the final out. That was our three games. Then obviously these two. This team has had a much harder road to get there, and as we’ve said, they handle hard well.
On former players around the program…
It’s really cool, and that happens sometimes. I remember the 2014 team having Stephen Head and Jordan Henry in the dugout as student assistants. I know Clem and I had a visit, so Clem didn’t travel with the team here on Wednesday night. He stayed for the visit with Tyler Keenan. They drove over, and I probably shouldn’t — I won’t tell you the whole story — but they’re driving for five hours, and I know Tyler Keenan wants to get to Omaha. Everybody wants to get to Omaha, but he had a long conversation with Clem about how bad he wanted it and how important this was to get to Omaha because he’s one of the best to ever wear the uniform. He played in 2018. We were a national seed and lost. Then in 2019, he lost in a Game 3 super regional. Then in 2020, we were 15-1 and the season ended. He never got a chance, and it wasn’t because he wasn’t good. It wasn’t because he wasn’t on good teams. Getting to Omaha is just really hard. It’s really cool to watch those guys — him and obviously Tyler Myers — get there. It’s pretty neat.
Will Furniss, 1B
On feelings after hitting go-ahead home run…
It means the world to me. We had a really rough first two years here, and after that, everybody just started kind of jumping ship. That’s when you learn what people are made of. Some core guys stuck around, and we brought in guys that we thought would make a big difference for our team, not only as players, but as teammates. We focused hard as a team on hanging out a lot more last year and being close-knit, and it worked for us. We fell a little bit short, and then this year, we really hammered down on it again.
You’ve heard everybody say that we’re a really close-tied group of guys and that we like to ride the bus. We do. We’ve actually asked Coach B if we could take one bus sometimes on long trips, but it’s a really long trip and that can’t happen. We’d rather be crammed in with each other than be on two buses, but you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do. You’ve got to be comfortable. It’s just a really close group of guys, and sticking through it has really paid off. Trusting the coaches to put together a product on the field and recruit guys who are good locker room guys has really helped us a lot.
On approach at plate in 8th inning…
I had a really bad at-bat against him the at-bat before. I think I swung at a slider at my neck and popped up to the third baseman when Joe was on third. Walking up to the plate, I think I was 0-for-8 in the regional until that moment, so I was like, “I’ve got to do something to help us win.” I just kind of sat slider and knew that I took a really bad swing in the at-bat before, so he probably was going to throw it again. It worked in my favor and worked in our favor. I was just trying to get a single to score Judd, but it ended up going out.
On postgame dogpile as visitor after watching a team dogpile at Swayze Field last year…
When you try so hard throughout the year and then you finally get there, and you have a great regional and it feels like you should have won but you don’t, I know I thought about it literally all the way until opening day. It just sucked. It’s hard to forget about it. This was my last year, and a couple other guys’ last years. This guy (Rabe) is draft eligible, so it’s probably his last year, too. But yeah, you just wanted to do it for the guys around you. Last year, it sucked watching the guys who weren’t going to come back walk off the field. This year, we worked really hard not to let that happen.
On completing career resume with trip to Omaha…
We actually were talking about it with Hunter Elliott on the way here. He’s been here five years, and he’s ended his season every single way except in a super regional. He missed the SEC Tournament, made the SEC Tournament, ended the season in a regional and in Omaha. So he was like, “Let’s just not do it in a super regional.” I was like, “Dude, yeah, let’s not do that.” It’s kind of crazy. We’ve been looking forward to this moment and working really hard since the beginning of the season. Props to all of our coaches. They’ve worked us tirelessly to get to this moment and get it done.
On Hayden Federico’s clutch 8th inning catch…
Those are really tough balls to catch for people who don’t play baseball. That’s one of the hardest balls to catch ever. He smoked that ball. Fed came to the dugout and said it sounded like he hit it bad, but it’s just so tough on those line drives. It’s crazy. He came after the game and said, “I just keep thinking about how if that ball actually pops out of my glove, what happens after that?” It was a phenomenal catch by him. He’s a great outfielder. He made a mistake, but he covered up for it and caught it over his shoulder like Willie Mays.
On Hunter Elliott’s experience helping others…
Hunter is my roommate on the road, so we spend a lot of time talking about the team. We’ve talked a lot about Omaha. I looked to him from the time I came here as a guy who has been through it and knows what it takes. When we were looking at this team, we talked about it a lot. We were like, “Man, we are really, really talented. We’re a really tight-knit group. We have all the traits of a good team.”
Hearing that from him is really good because you know he’s been through it and done it. Burns played four years here but had never been to Omaha, so having that guy you can look to is really critical. We also know Hunter lives to pitch in these big moments. It’s awesome to have him and be able to pitch him in these spots because he loves it so much. I know a lot of guys look up to him, too, especially in the bullpen. Having him is like a slow heartbeat. I’m sure it’s really relaxing to the guys who come in and pitch in the game because he’s done it before. He looks cool as a cucumber out there.
On origins of the Stormtrooper helmet in the dugout…
We were in Florida, and I think we hadn’t scored for 17 innings or something like that. I think it was Hudson Calhoun, Terry Hayes and Wil Libbert. They were in, I think, a bookstore. They bought the stormtrooper helmet. I think it was $150. They split it and gave it to our offense. Ever since then, we just decided that we could start hitting again, so we kept putting it on. It kind of became a prop. I think Tennessee has the hat, and Georgia has the chain or the mask, and we had the stormtrooper helmet. The first one who put it on was Judd.
Taylor Rabe, SP
On feeling during pregame warmups…
I wouldn’t really say I felt any different, or that one thing was really working more than any other outing. But I knew every outing is different, and we have a really good scouting report that we spend a lot of time on. When we were looking at that, we knew Auburn was going to be a team that takes a lot of short swings, hits a lot of ground balls and kind of plays station-to-station baseball. It was going to be critical, even after giving up some singles through the gaps, to stick with it and not try to do too much. I think trusting myself, even after giving up some balls through the sixth hole, is what helped me get out of it and get some length today.
On postgame dogpile as visitor after watching a team dogpile at Swayze Field last year…
It was awesome. That feeling last year really stuck with us, especially being at home. Every time you’re out there, it’s kind of like an offseason reminder. You remember the last game you played there and what happened. We took it to heart this year. We knew it was going to be tough, but we just had to stick with it. We knew we had a team capable of doing this, and I think that was a big thing for us.
