Ole Miss was feeling a little froggy tonight. The Rebels are the top-ranked baseball team in America. So before Game 1 of the weekend’s huge SEC series against No. 5 Tennessee in Oxford, Ole Miss trotted out its football coach for the ceremonial first pitch. Lane Kiffin was his jovial old self, trolling Tennessee by tossing aside the baseball and throwing a yellow golf ball instead. That’s a reference to when the two schools met in Knoxville in football season and UT fans were ridiculed for throwing trash onto the field following a questionable call late in the game. During the melee, someone chucked a yellow golf ball at Kiffin.

Credit to Kiffin. It was an original moment, and kinda funny.

But Tennessee got the last laugh. The Vols hit five home runs and crushed the Rebels in the first game of the series, winning 12-1.

It’s early, and the SEC is loaded, but Tennessee looks really, really good … like national championship-caliber good. The Vols are 21-1 and now have 64 home runs on the season. And they’ve been without their top two pitchers to this point. Rick Barnes is exceptionally good, and Josh Huepel looks like he might be. But Tony Vitello just might be the best coach on the Knoxville campus.

Published On: March 26th, 2022Categories: Baseball

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About the Author: Ben Garrett

I am a journalist and erstwhile web designer from East Tennessee. Home is on the eastern border of the Big South Fork National River & Recreation Area. I write for a living, but not here ... because nobody is paying money for my opinions (except the New York Post, just once, and Donald Trump retweeted it).

BEN GARRETT

I am a journalist and erstwhile web designer from East Tennessee. Home is the eastern border of the Big South Fork National River & Recreation Area. I write for a living, but this isn’t it … because nobody is paying me for my opinion. (Well, the New York Post did. But just once. And Donald Trump retweeted it.) I was Time Magazine’s Person of the Year in 2006. Topics here include politics, the weather, Tennessee Vols football, and whatever else interests me.

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