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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Baseball Completes First Practice
1/22/2001 | Baseball
Jan. 22, 2001
OXFORD, Miss. - Ole Miss baseball went through its first pre-season workout under first-year head coach Mike Bianco Monday afternoon at Oxford-University Stadium/Swayze Field.
Forty players reported for the first day of spring practice, including 20 returnees. Bianco put the Rebels through an intra-squad scrimmage before spending the final part of practice working on fundamentals.
The first-year coach was pleased with his team's overall performance on the first day.
"I was really pleased with the effort we gave," Bianco said. "The pitchers did extremely well, especially (junior right-hander) Pete Montrenes and (senior right-hander) Ronnie Goodwin. We need to throw a few more strikes than we did today, but overall I was happy with our pitchers.
"As usual at this point, the pitchers are going to be ahead of the hitters but we did have some guys swing the bats well. (Junior infielder) Banks Robinson, (junior infielder) Brent Walker hit a home run, and (junior designated hitter) Glen Morris all looked good at the plate."
The Rebels are coming off a 30-25 season, their third-straight 30-win campaign. Bianco was hired as Ole Miss' head coach on June 7, 2000 after three seasons as the head coach at McNeese State. A former player and assistant coach under legendary LSU head coach Skip Bertman, Bianco compiled a 100-71 record with the Cowboys and led McNeese State to the 2000 Southland Conference championship and an appearance in the 2000 NCAA Regionals.
Ole Miss is scheduled to open the Mike Bianco-era on Friday, Feb. 9 against Arkansas-Little Rock at 3:00 p.m., at Oxford-University Stadium/Swayze Field. The Rebels start the 2001 campaign with a nine-game homestand.
