By Chris Macaluso
LSUsports.net
(4/12/01)
Ole Miss baseball coach Mike Bianco has been on the field at LSU’s Alex Box Stadium many times.
He was the switch-hitting catcher who helped lead LSU to the College World Series in 1989. He was the graduate assistant under former LSU assistant and current Alabama coach Jim Wells at Northwestern State when the Demons competed in the NCAA Regional at Alex Box in 1991.
In 1993, Bianco returned to Baton Rouge where he helped Skip Bertman lead the Tigers to three National Championships in five seasons before taking the head coaching job at McNeese State University in 1998. Bianco lead the Cowboys to a 9-8 win over LSU at Alex Box Stadium last season on his way to an NCAA Regional birth while being named Southland Conference’s Coach of the Year.
This weekend Bianco will be back at Alex Box Stadium looking to claim first place in the Southeastern Conference standings as the first-year head coach at Ole Miss.
Though he will be in familiar surroundings, Bianco said he believes there will be an unfamiliar feeling for he and his new team.
“It feels different to return to Alex Box every time I put on a different uniform,” he said. “But this may be even more different because of where I am and the position my team is in.”
That position is not only unfamiliar to this year’s Ole Miss team but the program as a whole. Ole Miss last claimed an SEC regular-season title was in 1982 when the Rebels finished 15-6 in the conference, good for first place in the conference’s western division. Last year, the Rebels didn’t win enough conference games to qualify for the SEC Tournament.
This season, Bianco has Ole Miss perched in a first-place tie with LSU at 10-4 in the SEC. Which is why, according to Bianco, the games themselves are a much bigger story than his return.
“I think my players realize where they are right now and how important this weekend is,” Bianco said. “But they also realize we are just halfway through the season. This is a big weekend and we have to be successful in Baton Rouge if we want to be successful the rest of the season.”
The success Bianco is enjoying right now has surprised many who follow SEC Baseball. But not Bertman, who said he knew all Bianco needed was an opportunity in the SEC to prove how well he could coach.
“He has the information to be good, but a lot of coaches have that,” Bertman said. “Mike has a very high awareness level and that’s something very few coaches have. It’s unteachable for both players and coaches. The enthusiasm he’s brought to that program is contagious.”
The weekend is just as important to Bertman, who recommended Bianco to Ole Miss Athletic Director John Shafer last June.
“For Mike (Bianco) it will feel a little different being back here than it did when he was coaching at other places,” Bertman said. “When you come back as an SEC coach, particularly when the team he’s coaching has been at the bottom for so long, it has to be very exciting for him to know he could come away in first place in the conference.”
LSU enters the weekend series playing what seems to be its best baseball of the season after taking two out of three games at ninth-ranked South Carolina last weekend.
The Tigers’ team batting average has hovered around .320 most of the season. That has been bolstered by shortstop Ryan Theriot’s recent hitting explosion that has raised his batting average from around .285 in mid-March to better than .360 entering this weekend. The junior’s efforts earned him SEC Player of the Week honors after he finished the series at South Carolina 8-for-12 at the plate with two runs scored. LSU’s team earned run average has improved steadily in the past month as well as more and more pitchers contribute quality innings.
Still, Bertman believes his team has a lot of work left to do if it expects to enjoy the success of past Tiger squads. Hopefully, Bertman said, his team will give him some indication that it’s on the right track this weekend.
“We just don’t have the senior leadership we’ve had in the past and this club has been a little hard to reach,” he said. ” We’ve had a tough time playing well for more than one game at a time. But, this weekend would be a perfect time for that to change.”
Bertman said he believes the home field advantage will give his team a slight edge. But cautioned that if the Tigers don’t play as well as they are capable, Ole Miss could ride out of Baton Rouge all alone at the top of the league.
“There’s no question Mike has a good team,” Bertman said. “They’re not fooling anyone or getting lucky. They play well. We’ll(LSU) need to be at our best to compete.”