OXFORD — Mike Bianco has seen this Ole Miss baseball team play well. That’s what fuels his hope. It’s also the root of his frustration.

The capability is plain to see. The Rebels have secured memorable wins over Mississippi State, Georgia and even on Friday night against Alabama in the last three weeks. But Ole Miss is not playing to those capabilities often enough to meet the expectations this program has developed over 24 seasons with Bianco at the helm.

After dropping two out of three to the Crimson Tide at Swayze Field this weekend, the Rebels’ path to an NCAA Regional looks more like a lightly used foot trail conquered by prickly overgrowth.

“You go back to the ’22 team ‒ and not because we’re 7-14 or anything like that ‒ but one of the things we’ve always said about that team is they showed up every day,” Bianco said. “They were very consistent in the way they approach practice, the way they approach the game, the way they approach everything. This team’s too inconsistent.”

The Rebels (23-20, 7-14 SEC) have an unhappy tendency to get embarrassed when they lose. Eight of their 14 SEC defeats have come by at least seven runs. And those margins are often inflated by Ole Miss’ inability to get out of its own way.

In Saturday’s decisive rubber match against Alabama (28-16, 9-12), Ole Miss got a strong start from Mason Nichols, who didn’t have his best stuff after returning from an injury. He pitched four innings of one-run ball anyway.

Once he left the game, the Rebels collapsed. Their bullpen faltered, sure, but they twice missed routine fly balls in the outfield to extend innings, unable to cope with the elements on a blustery, sunny afternoon.

Offensively, they didn’t have an answer for Alabama freshman Zane Adams, who entered the game with a 4.54 ERA. Adams pitched into the eighth inning having allowed one run before Jackson Ross finally chased him with a late home run in a game that was already decided.

“We’ve got the wind blowing out 20 miles an hour and we can’t pull the ball in the air the whole day,” Bianco said.

SIMMONS: Ole Miss football dual-sport athlete Austin Simmons leaves baseball game with injury

Bianco was asked postgame why he feels this team has failed to achieve consistency, and whether there are certain traits his more dependable teams from the path have featured that this group lacks.

He said he didn’t believe it was fair to discuss culture, leadership and chemistry during the season.

“When you’re this close, you can’t really analyze that kind of stuff,” Bianco said. “…Sometimes you don’t win because you’re not good enough. You know, that’s a fact. And that’s probably more so than not. But there’s times when you don’t win because you don’t show up enough, and that was kind of the message today.”

It would be disingenuous to pretend as though these Rebels don’t have serious roster construction problems. They don’t have a true Friday night starter ‒ they haven’t won a series opener since their first SEC set of the season against South Carolina. Injuries and ineffectiveness have gradually depleted their bullpen into a unit that lacks reliability. Ole Miss’ preseason plan at catcher hasn’t worked out and its lineup isn’t the murderer’s row some hoped it might be.

Still, undeniably, Ole Miss has the talent to catch the baseball reliably. It has the talent to make basic plays on the infield. It has the talent to handle a freshman lefthander better than it did against Alabama on Saturday in a 10-3 loss.

That’s why Bianco can feel hopeful ‒ and like an opportunity is passing him and his team by.

David Eckert covers Ole Miss for the Clarion Ledger. Email him at deckert@gannett.com or reach him on Twitter @davideckert98.

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Justin Eboigbe hit another “personal milestone” on Saturday afternoon. Nearly two years after he thought his football career was over, the former Alabama defensive lineman received a call that changed his life.

Eboigbe is headed to the NFL after being drafted 105th overall in the 2024 draft. The Los Angeles Chargers made Eboigbe, a bruising defensive lineman, the fifth pick in the fourth round. Eboigbe is the seventh Alabama player to go overall and the first on Day 3 of the draft.

“Every play, every practice, every time we work out we should be grateful for that because you never know when the opportunity is going to cease,” Eboigbe said a year ago as he worked his way back from a season-ending neck injury. “Just taking every day as a day in getting better whether it be in the weight room, on the field, in the meeting room watching film or learning new stuff. Just take advantage of the day that’s given because honestly, I would never thought that that would happen to me back in September (of 2022) but it is what it is and it’s about making the days count.”

Eboigbe, a four-star who played high school ball in Forest Park, Georgia, appeared in 56 career games for Alabama. He was a part of 122 tackles, his career-best coming last fall (63) with seven sacks. Eboigbe snagged a tipped Stetson Bennett IV pass in 2020 for his lone career interception. He also produced two fumble recoveries.

Nick Saban, who worked the first two nights of the draft as an analyst, helped 20 defensive linemen get selected through his 17-year run in Tuscaloosa.

Alabama 2024 NFL draft picks

Round 1

• 7. JC Latham, Tennessee Titans
• 17. Dallas Turner, Minnesota Vikings
• 24. Terrion Arnold, Detroit Lions

Round 2

• 41. Kool-Aid McKinstry, New Orleans Saints
• 57. Chris Braswell, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Round 3

• 80. Jermaine Burton, Cincinnati Bengals

Round 4

• 105. Justin Eboigbe, Los Angeles Chargers

Nick Alvarez is a reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @nick_a_alvarez or email him at NAlvarez@al.com.