BRACKET WATCH: Ole Miss hits the final stretch of SEC play still in the hosting conversation

While Tuesday’s Governor’s Cup result was not what No. 17 Ole Miss, nor its fans, wanted in a 7-3 loss to No. 10 Mississippi State it is the final three weekends of Southeastern Conference play that means the most right now.

With nine SEC games to go the Rebels (31-15, 11-10 SEC) are right in the mix to finish in the top half of the league and also secure a second-straight host seed. Wins have to come and the offense somehow getting hot again is a must for all this to matter. No arguments there.

Prior to the game in Pearl both D1Baseball and Baseball America released their latest NCAA Tournament projections and Ole Miss firmly in as a Top 16 National Seed, for now.

The Rebels are a projected No. 11 National Seed by D1Baseball. They would host Southern California as the 2 Seed in the Oxford Regional along with Liberty as the 3 Seed and Lamar as the 4 Seed. The regional is paired with the Athens Regional and No. 6 National Seed Georgia, setting up a potential Super Regional matchup from this past weekend.

Baseball America has Ole Miss as the No. 13 National Seed, hosting Boston College as the 2 Seed along with 3 Seed UAB and 4 Seed Oral Roberts. This projected Oxford Regional is paired with the Chapel Hill Regional and No. 4 National Seed North Carolina.

Currently the Rebels are No. 14 in the RPI after the midweek loss to the Bulldogs, yet their strength of schedule is currently No. 4.

What is remaining on the SEC slate for Ole Miss is a pair of road series with a home series against No. 7 Texas A&M sandwiched in between next weekend. The first road trip is to Fayetteville this weekend against No. 22 Arkansas then at No. 24 Alabama May 14-16 to wrap up the regular season. The lone remaining midweek game is against UT Martin on May 12