Everything Mike Bianco, Judd Utermark Said After Ole Miss Home Run Record Fell

Tuesday night saw No. 15 Ole Miss defeat UT Martin 17-6, but the big story was what Judd Utermark accomplished in the first inning.

Utermark hit the first pitch he saw for his 49th home run at Ole Miss, setting a new career home run record for the Rebels. Afterwards, coach Mike Bianco and Utermark spent most of their post-game availabilities talking about the new home run record.

Here’s everything said. 

Mike Bianco, Head Coach

On Judd Utermark setting new home run record…

One, obviously, we’ve had a lot of great players here. I’ve been blessed to watch a lot of neat guys. I just said it on the air: I’m fortunate that my job and my career have been with guys like him — a bunch of 18- to 22-year-old guys. There have been so many awesome guys here. Not just great players — great players playing amateur baseball at its highest level and doing sensational things — but doing it the right way. Guys who are great teammates, great leaders. Guys, as you know, and you know him, who have big hearts and touch so many people. It’s really cool.

Nobody is more deserving. You watch the video at the end, and everybody who got up there didn’t talk about how great of a player he is. The record shows that. They talked about what a friend he is, what a teammate he is, how much they respect him, and that’s the coolest thing. I’m just really proud of him. I know he’s probably happy to be done with it. There’s so much pressure.

I’ll also say I’m proud of our MarCom team. They’ve been talking about this for months — what this night would look like. Hopefully it would be at home, and thankfully it was. But I was very guarded. I didn’t want too much to be out there. It’s the elephant in the room. Everybody knew this was happening, and I know you guys have to write, and it’s in box scores and all of that. But I didn’t want to put so much out for Judd and put any more pressure on him. There was tremendous pressure on him, but he’s been handling it so, so well.

When it happened, for the way it happened, for the MarCom team to put it on the jumbotron — they had it planned that he would run out on the field and they would honor him again right afterward. It gave the fans kind of a breath, like, “OK, yeah, now we can really applaud.” Then Scott Wyant and the video team put that together at the end. I know that touched his heart. That’s really cool. Again, just a neat night.

On Utermark overcoming injuries early in career…

Yeah, and you never know, but certainly when you look at him now and you look at the player he’s become, probably the biggest factor is he just wasn’t healthy. When he got here, he had surgery right out of high school. I don’t think he even batted his first fall, if I’m not mistaken. So he was kind of behind the eight ball when he got to the spring. You’re talking about a high school kid, and it’s hard enough to play as a freshman, but it’s really hard when you had surgery, you don’t play in the summer, you don’t play in the fall, and now you’re in the SEC. Then he re-injured the shoulder again, and it kind of put him behind.

So, yeah, he’s done it in four years, and we’ve had some great ones that have done it in three. But he really has only had a couple years. Two years back-to-back with 20 home runs — I don’t think anybody has done that in the program. Even though he’s a four-year guy, he’s done it pretty quickly. He’s also a guy who, defensively and athletically, is not your typical home run leader. He can play third. He can play center. He can do anything on the field. He runs like a gazelle. He’s just a sensational athlete.

On Wil Libbert…

I thought he was really good. We talked about it. We put him in the pen, and he’s kind of been that bad-luck guy where we haven’t been able to find enough spots to get him in the game and really use him. That’s been unfortunate. Then we were like, “Let’s start him. Let’s see if we can get him 40 or 50 pitches.” We’re going to need another starter going into postseason. To not pitch regularly and to do what he did, I thought was really impressive. I was happy with it.

On team before heading to Tuscaloosa, Ala…

It was nice to swing it tonight and swing it from some different people. It was nice. Pauly continues to swing a hot bat. Obviously, Judd continues to do what he does. I thought it was a huge night by Furniss with some good at-bats. Bissell is starting to swing the bat well. Then we did some different things — getting guys in, moving balls and things that don’t necessarily go on the box score — but I thought that was good. So, yeah, happy with that. Obviously, there’s a lot in front of us.

On Grayson Gibson…

He’s been throwing bullpens. I think he will throw a live BP this weekend. I think that’s the schedule. He’s been pain-free. I’d lie if I said — I think it’s been two or three bullpens to this point. But he’s done well.

On other potential starters in the postseason…

The guy who has done it a lot besides him would be Owen Kelly, who also pitched well tonight, I thought.

Judd Utermark, 3B

On his record-setting home run swing…

First, I want to thank so many people, because a lot of this can’t be done without their help. My fiancée, who comes to every single game and every intrasquad, videos it for the families back home. She’s put in probably just as many hours as I have. My family, obviously, and my Lord Jesus Christ. So many things have to go right. Now, on to the swing. I saw the big slurve right out of his hand. The shadow was a little iffy here, but it felt good off the bat. It was at a good angle. I checked the wind to make sure it wasn’t blowing straight in, but after that, whenever I saw it clear that fence, it was a little bit of a relief.

On changes made that led to back-to-back 20 home run seasons…

Well, I think, one, I physically matured. I probably gained some weight. I can’t really remember what exactly I changed. But also, it was my swing, and I think Coach Kling helped me a lot with that and just how we approach the game. At that point, I had two seasons under my belt of inconsistent play, which was nobody’s fault but mine. I just wasn’t performing. I was lucky enough to gain a spark of confidence down in Globe Life that junior year, and ever since then, it’s kind of been my swing, kind of in the field. There may be some powers in that pink bat, but who knows? I’ve been swinging that for two years. It’s been an awesome journey.

On post-game video tribute…

I did not know that was going to happen, and I’m so glad it did, because those are the guys and those are the people that deserve the glory. I mean, Luke Hill popped up there as one of the first guys that I played with. There were so many times where me and him were up late night, hitting up the cages at 2 a.m. I don’t know what they were up at 2 a.m., but we invest this as a team. Cade Townsend likes to joke that those are our home runs, but they really are. It’s a team effort. It’s not an individual sport. There are individual aspects to it. I’m just glad I could share those moments with all those special people.

On moving forward…

Very much so. I guess my last home run would have been at Arkansas, so that was about a week. I heard a lot. I just graduated, so I had all my family in town. Of course, they know it, so it gets mentioned and stuff. But my job here is to try to win games. If my job is to hit home runs to help us win those games, then that’s what I’m going to try to do. I’ve been lucky enough to hit 49 of them. I’ve been blessed. I’m glad that it’s off my back, though, and that we can worry about winning games now.

On mindset last weekend without a home run…

Yeah, I think it would have been awesome if I hit it during the Senior Day game. That would have been pretty special. But no, it was Texas A&M. I spoke to you guys earlier. I love the university. I love their fan base. I love the culture that they have around the alumni. But again, we’re here to win games. We’re here to make it to Omaha and win the national championship. So it makes it really easy to keep the main thing the main thing.

On team’s direction…

To be honest with you, I’d probably have to look back because I showered well and flushed it. But even that game against Texas A&M, sometimes you’re going to get games like that where it’s not really that you play horribly, but the other team plays great. Going into Tuscaloosa, it’s going to be a lot of fun. I know they’re a really good team. I’ve been watching highlights of them. I know a couple of guys there. So it’s going to be a lot of fun. I do like where we came out of it.

On breaking the HR record at home…

A lot of my teammates were telling me, “Don’t break it away,” or, “You’ve got to hit it today.” That just adds to the pressure, of course. I’ve got some idiots. But it is awesome. I hope that we host a regional, and that’s what we’re shooting toward. But knowing that it’s my last regular season game here, it’s a little emotional for sure. I’m glad that if there was a time to break the record, it would be now, obviously a year too late.

On pressure this weekend to secure regional hosting spot…

I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t. Of course, we got a taste of hosting a regional last year, and there’s nothing better than bringing however many people here to Oxford and being able to celebrate as planned. All I can tell you is that we’re going to go down there and take care of business. We’re going to try to play one pitch at a time, not trying to play for a regional necessarily in Game 1, but trying to go out there and do everything that we can to win the game.

On staying at Ole Miss for four years…