Mississippi Rebels Final '07 Rank: 25 40-25

The Diamond Rebels came up short in a third-straight bid for a berth in the College World Series after being eliminated by Arizona State in Super Regional play. After an impressive 40-25 season which saw a number of players’ prowess rise, Mississippi anticipates 2008 will be the year they finally break through and make it back to Omaha for the first time since 1972. Fueled by one of the most potent offensive lineups in the nation and a talented staff of arms that rival any in the nation, Ole Miss will compete for top ten votes all year and should be on any short list of teams that can make it to Rosenblatt.

Jordan Henry’s .376 batting average was second on the team in ’07, trailing only his older brother Justin who hit .381. Justin signed with the Detroit Tigers as a ninth round draft pick and that should motivate the already tenacious Jordan to take his game to another level. Second baseman Zach Miller was one of the most esteemed freshmen in the country in ’07, batting .368 with signs of better things to come. If Miller can increase his poise at the plate (42 strikeouts compared to only 8 base on balls) his productivity could skyrocket. The top two Rebel homerun threats, third baseman Cody Overbeck and outfielder Logan Power will also be returning to the team. Overbeck, a junior, led the team in homeruns (14), RBI (58) and doubles (16), while batting .288. Power had 11 homeruns as well as 11 doubles with a .292 average and will likely be batting fifth in the order to protect opponents from pitching around Overbeck.

Pitchingwise, Ole Miss will be without Will Kline (7-3, 3.77, 134 strikeouts – 7th nationaly) who was drafted in the second round by Tampa Bay. However the team’s next three leaders in starts, Lance Lynn, Brett Bukvich and Nathan Baker, all return to set up an extremely capable cache of talented starters. The right-handed junior Lynn had an 8-5 record in 2007; a misleading indicator of his ability. Lynn fired shutouts against national tournament teams South Carolina and Southern Miss and compiled a tidy 2.85 ERA for the season. In 123.1 innings pitched he surrendered only 94 hits while striking out 146 to tie for fourth nationally. Junior southpaw Bukvich will also be back on the hill for the Rebels. The lefty had a 4.10 ERA and 7-3 record for the season. Baker pitched in sixteen games for Mississippi, starting a dozen. In those outings he delivered a 6-2 record with a 3.92 ERA.

In the bullpen, it doesn’t get much better than the tandem of Cody Satterwhite and Scott Bittle. The fireballer Satterwhite, whose fastball has been clocked up to 100 mph, spent the off-season with the US National Team. He posted a 4-4 record with 4 saves in ’07, and had a 2.29 ERA in SEC play. Bittle turned down an opportunity to play in the Yankees’ system (drafted in the 48th round) in order to come back to campus. He had a 2.79 ERA, led the team in saves with seven and fanned 59 batters in 42 innings.