The 2026 baseball season for Ole Miss ended in a thud at the College World Series.
Troy defeated the Rebels 12-8 in Sunday afternoon’s elimination game after trailing 6-2 early. The Trojans scored 10 unanswered runs and rode the dominant arm of reliever Noah Thigpen to keep their season alive. The Rebels, meanwhile, are headed back to Oxford to begin its offseason.
Before they left Omaha, though, coach Mike Bianco, pitcher Hunter Elliott and first baseman Will Furniss spoke with reporters about the loss, what the season meant for them and reflect on the surprising postseason run to the CWS. Here’s everything they said.
Mike Bianco, Head Coach
Opening Statement…
First, congratulations to Troy and Skylar Meade. What an amazing job they’ve done. They played so well today and competed so hard. On the other side, obviously, it always hurts to finish. Our reporters have heard me say it: everybody loses their last game except for the team that wins the national championship. When you lose, it stings. And man, it stings because you don’t expect it to happen. With that being said, if you’re going to lose, this is the best place to lose. Right now, I’m sure it doesn’t feel that way to our team, but my hope is as the days pass and the weeks pass, they realize what a tremendous year they had.
To the seniors, just unbelievable. To be here four years ago to win a national championship, and then have some tough times and fight through two tough years of injuries and not being good enough. The seniors hung together. Last year we were a national seed and hosted, got punched in the gut and weren’t able to get out of our own regional. But they hung together again and came back their senior year to get us back to Omaha.
I’m just so proud of those guys. I told them on the field how indebted I am, how indebted the coaches are, and how Ole Miss and all the fans are indebted to these guys for righting the ship and getting us back here. Disappointing, but just very proud.
On Troy scouting report…
We thought left was good. Originally, the reason Hunter was pitching was because we thought Rabe was the best matchup for North Carolina. But as we delved into it, we felt that Hunter would be a good match, and he did. He pitched great. It was an unfortunate fifth inning. When you look at the box score, I don’t think it’s reflective of how well he really did pitch. He pitched out of some jams. But credit them. They got all the big hits, and that’s happened in our two games. When you get to this point and everybody is so good, it’s about the at-bats and making pitches and getting off the field. It’s about having a big hit. As Hunter said, he’s so mature to accept your question and just say, “It is what it is. I just didn’t make the next pitch and get off the field.”
At the end of the day, as frustrated as everybody is, he’s right. But credit Troy for getting the big hit time and time again. You look at the back half of the game. We scored runs, but we just couldn’t stop them. They just continued, and it didn’t matter. They were certainly able to make adjustments. They hit a fastball out, hit a slider out and I think might have hit a changeup out. Just a great job by them. At the end of the day, they just beat us.
On Walker Hooks’ weekend performances…
It’s hard. At some point, we’ll probably dive into TrackMan and where the pitches were. We knew North Carolina had swung so well against left-handers, and we really didn’t. But at the end, when your closer is left-handed, you’re kind of stuck with that. He’s handled every situation. Again, we didn’t want to bring him in during the seventh today. We thought that was a lot of outs to ask him to get, not necessarily physically, but with the adjustments they had started to make against Hunter. Could he get through the lineup and a couple hitters? It’s hard to go nine up, nine down. I don’t really know. I know when he came in today, it seemed like a lot of balls just missed middle. It’s hard to tell from the dugout side. You’re right, I don’t really have the answer for that.
On maturity of Hunter Elliott and Will Furniss…
Hunter, five, right? Will, four. Judd Utermark, another four-year guy. As you mentioned, in an era when that doesn’t happen, they’re either getting drafted or transferring. Especially when times were tough. We’re forever indebted to those guys for making us better and making the program better. But as Hunter said, they’ve become leaders. Most guys don’t come into the program as leaders. It’s tough. Tim Elko, I don’t think anybody thought he was a leader as a freshman. When you look up, the faces of the program are Will, Judd and Hunter. They’ve been awesome. They’ve been awesome for their teammates to lean on, guys who do it the right way.
I’ve said this a ton about Judd, but really it’s to all of those seniors. As a parent — my kids are grown up — but if you have younger kids, that’s what you hope your kids grow up to be. They’re all good students. They’re all great kids. They’re neat to be around. They do it the right way. I’m just so proud of them. I really believe our sport continues to do that. You can really lean into those leaders and those great teams. Sometimes that’s the difference-maker, the secret sauce, if you will, to being a great baseball team when you get enough guys like that.
On what team, postseason run means personally…
Wow. That’s tough, Michael. I don’t think of it that way, so it’s hard to answer questions like that. Maybe in another week or two we can revisit that question because it’s not about me. I’ve said it many times. It’s my 26th year here. All the teams are different, and they’re all special. There are different kids. You have Hunter Elliott as a freshman or Will Furniss as a freshman, and you watch those guys grow. That’s why you’ve got the coolest job in the world. You get to be a part of that. You get to be a part of their maturation as a baseball player and as a person. It’s really cool. But I’m proud, as I said, of those guys. It stings when you lose, but it’s different when you lose here, and I hope they know that. It’s tough. A lot of tears out on the field. But my hope is, as time passes, they’ll realize what a special group of guys and what a special team this was.
Hunter Elliott, Pitcher
On thoughts being back on the field in Omaha…
Lots of gratitude. I was grateful to have another opportunity to step on that mound on this stage of college baseball and showcase myself again. I’m just really grateful that we, like you said, righted the ship those couple of years, got this program back on track and are ending our season here.
On what season means personally…
This season was special, I think, because of how hard it was. We had a tough schedule. We had really tough road trips. We had tons of tough games. I think that’s why this team was so special and why we were so good late in the year, because we were able to stick together through it all. This team means so much to me. Those teammates on that bus right now, they’re brothers for life. It’s hard to find the words right now, obviously. But it was a special season with a special group of guys.
On personal growth while at Ole Miss…
As a player, I’m not a ton different. I think I’m better in pretty much every aspect. I think I’m better in a lot of ways on the field, and that’s all the credit in the world to our coaching staff, our strength coach John Carrello and everything like that. I feel like the biggest difference is how I am as a person. With this year’s team, I was much more of a leader. Last time I was here, I was following the older guys and my role was more on the field. This year, I felt like it was a lot off the field. We had a lot of really good young guys this year and a lot of guys who weren’t as experienced. I feel like that’s where my role was a lot this year.
On balk…
No explanation on it. Surprised, maybe a little. But it is what it is. I needed to make the next pitch, and I didn’t get off the field there. The balk doesn’t kill you if you don’t give up the base hit right after it. So it is what it is.
Will Furniss, First Baseman
On what season means personally…
Just all of what he said. I’ve been with a lot of these guys for a couple of years. Obviously, there are some new guys around, but I think we had about 19 returners or something like that. Some of those guys I’ve been with for four years. They mean a lot to me, and they’ll be friends for life. I think it means the world not only to me, but to the rest of the guys because we worked so hard for it. It just sucks that it ends the way it does.
