Yes, just a few days ago, the road to the fourth consecutive NCAA Tournament and the 21st in Mike Bianco’s 26-season Ole Miss coaching tenure looked dead. The Rebels were at 24-19 and 7-14 in SEC. The Rebels won three straight games in Missouri with a score of 25-8. They then defeated Southern Miss 4-1 in front of 6,346 people at Pete Taylor Park. The Rebs now stand at 28-19 and have a No. 49 RPI, up six places in one evening and with the chance to make a quantum leap at LSU this weekend. The victory of the Golden Eagles by the Rebs was a huge mid-week win. Southern Miss finished at 36-12, with a No. 16 RPI. This victory was won in front of a standing room-only crowd of 6,346, which was the largest Southern Miss history, by more than 600. To get another warm person in this place, you would have required a shoehorn. Here’s a baseball lesson for you. Even in the most unpredictable of sports, things can turn around quickly. A couple of bats or a key player can quickly turn a season around. Take a look at the Atlanta Braves and the Mississippi State Bulldogs from last season. Take a look at the only College World Series team from Southern Miss in 2009! In Omaha, the Eagles lost in May and were already dead in June. Baseball is a dynamic sport. Things can change quickly. Fast. Here’s another lesson. Baseball is not always as easy as it seems. Two weeks ago, Southern Miss had just won its school record 15th consecutive game. It had a 33-8 record, and was ranked as high at No. The team is ranked 4th in the country. A couple of sluggers were hurt and a few breaks went wrong, and the Golden Eagles are now down to five losses in their last eight games, as well as back-to-back Conference USA series. They seem to be slowly getting closer to the finish. Their Conference USA lead has been reduced to just two games by UTSA. Guess who will be coming to town on Friday. You would be correct if you predicted the UTSA Roadrunners who won their six previous conference series. Let’s not forget Ole Miss. The No. The Rebels were once the No. The Rebels are the best team to play with when they are as keen on the ball now as they are. They are lightning fast, as demonstrated in Wednesday’s fourth inning. After three innings, Southern Miss’ starter Matt Adams faced the minimum and the Eagles led 1-0. Jacob Gonzalez hit the first outfielder, and then sweet-swinging Kevin Graham drove in a two-run run to USM’s Right Field Roost. Kemp Alderman launched a huge, solo homer to left field before the home crowd could recover. We didn’t know that the Rebels would have all the runs they needed with only five innings left. Graham’s homer was game’s biggest blow. It came on an Adams change-up that Graham had been expecting. Graham stated, “He threw four changes to me my first at bat.” “That’s exactly what I expected. “That’s what I expected, over the middle and down.” Drew McDaniel gave a quality start to the Rebels, with five innings of one-run baseball. The Eagles were then defeated by Brandon Johnson, Josh Mallitz, and Jackson Kimbrell in the fourth frame. Bianco stated, “This was clearly a huge win.” They’ve been a top-10 team, and this is a difficult place to play. Scott Berry’s work here is unrivalled. This was what we needed and it’s great to play in this environment tonight after playing so well last weekend.” Berry also lamented the “too many non-competitive bats” that were being used. “We struck out 15 runs, and I don’t recall a time when we struck out more than our competitors, but that’s what happened tonight. We just couldn’t compete, not taking anything away Ole Miss. They pitched well. In four innings, we had runners in scoring positions but didn’t score a hit. We got nothing except Sarge (Christopher Sargent)’s second inning home run. Berry said, “We have scored five runs in the last three losses.” “That’s just not going to happen.” Slugger Slade Wilks has returned to the Eagles lineup after missing four consecutive games. However, Reece Ewing is the normal No. The Southern Miss’ No. 3 hitter has missed nine consecutive games due to a fractured hand that has been healing slowly. Let’s just say that the Eagles lineup would look a lot different if Ewing was not there. Berry stated that Ewing would visit a hand specialist on Thursday but that he doesn’t seem optimistic about getting him back anytime soon. This is especially true for the big conference series. Berry’s offense needs a shot in Ewing’s arm. Ewing isn’t where it’s at the moment — at least, not right away. The Golden Eagles have a silver lining: It’s baseball. It can reverse itself as fast as it has turned around.