Monday, June 9, 2014

One Win From Omaha

There's pressure, and then there's pressure. Stepping on the mound against one of the most prolific offensive teams in college baseball the night after watching your ace last just two innings, the entire season resting on the steadiness of your left arm, the strength of your shoulder, the truthfulness of your aim, in a cramped stadium full of hot-breathed Ragin Cajuns....that's pressure. The kind that makes sweat pour, hands shake, nerves rattle, stomachs queasy.

But not Christian Trent.

He looked as cool as a cucumber Sunday night, throwing strike after strike for 7.0 innings and giving up just four hits and an unearned run. With calm determination Trent silenced the same Ragin Cajuns who had wreaked 9-run havoc the night before. Their black beards and brawn were rendered powerless against the still undefeated Trent. He positioned the Rebels to get the win, and they responded in kind.

It started in the 7th with a Preston Overbey solo home run, but after Lafayette responded with an RBI double off of Aaron Greenwood to knot the game at 2-2 Ole Miss needed more.

The Rebels didn't have to wait long.

Auston Bousfield, who had a momentum-turning drop that scored a runner and seemed to turn the momentum for UL-L in the Game 1 loss, roped a single into the outfield to start the 8th. One Austin Anderson walk later, in an ironic turn of events, the Lafayette outfielder dropped a Will Allen pop-fly and Bousfield turned 3rd determined to put Ole Miss back on top. As he dove face first into the dirt, Boz narrowly avoided the catcher's tag in his slide, just touching the plate with his outstretched hand and looking up to the Umpire expectantly for a call of safe and the go-ahead run.

With the Rebels leading 3-2, Sikes Orvis then loaded the bases with a single.

That's when Mike Bianco tapped true freshman Colby Bortles to finish the Cajuns off. Bortles strode to the plate with the confidence of a real-life Casey at the Bat. With the bases loaded, ULL had no choice but to pitch to him, and everyone, including Bortles, knew it. Young Bortles proved up to the challenge once more, belting a single that scored the game's final two runs.

The packed house at Tigue Field was stunned. The infamous Ole Miss 400 roared. There weren't many tickets for Rebel fans to make the trip to Lafayette, but the 400 who did are squeezing every ounce of pleasure out of those 1st baseline bleachers.

Ole Miss now finds itself running headlong into a winner-take-all showdown with the Ragin Cajuns at 6 p.m. (ESPN2). Everything is on the line. The pressure just went up another notch. Actually, the pressure just went up to the highest setting.

Sam Smith will start for the Rebels, who are now just one win away from the College World Series. One win away from Omaha. One win away from fulfilling a goal of every Mike Bianco team for the last 14 years.
Tonight is the chance for the fulfillment of a dream. Ole Miss expanded Swayze Field to build a championship program and get back to Omaha for the first time since 1972. Bianco coaches for Omaha. The players have taken the field each night since February with their goal being Omaha. The Rebel Nation fan base, which has had its eye cast lustily toward Omaha since Bianco took over 14 years ago, desperately wants a ticket to the College World Series.

Now, here we are. Omaha is just 9 innings away. There's one game to play. The winner goes to College World Series.

Does it get any more exciting that that?