Respect runs deep between Bianco, Van Horn

Ole Miss coach Mike Bianco (left) and Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn are shown during practice Friday, June 7, 2019, in Fayetteville.

— The players from Arkansas and Ole Miss are well-acquainted by now.

For juniors like Ole Miss' Thomas Dillard, the number of career matchups against Arkansas entering this weekend's NCAA Fayetteville Super Regional already totals 11.

"I feel like we know their middle names by now," Zabowski said earlier this week.

For as many times as the players on the Arkansas and Ole Miss rosters have met, it pales in comparison to the meetings between the two head coaches.

Most Victories by SEC Head Coaches

1 Ron Polk (Mississippi State, Georgia) 1,218

2 Skip Bertman (LSU) 870

3 Mike Bianco (Ole Miss) 750

4 Ray Tanner (South Carolina) 738

5 Keith Madison (Kentucky) 735

6 Tim Corbin (Vanderbilt) 733

7 Rod Delmonico (Tennessee) 699

8 Dave Van Horn (Arkansas) 687

9 Roy Mewbourne (Vanderbilt) 655

10 Hal Baird (Auburn) 634

The Rebels' Mike Bianco is the dean of SEC head coaches, in his 19th season. Arkansas' Dave Van Horn is in his 17th season in the SEC, tied with Vanderbilt's Tim Corbin for the league's second-longest tenure among active head coaches.

Each has watched the other build a formidable foe within the division. Van Horn inherited a team from his mentor, Norm DeBriyn, that was three years removed from an SEC championship and had played in a super regional in DeBriyn's last season, but that had struggled to find its footing in the conference and had a winning SEC record in two of its previous 13 seasons.

This year marked Van Horn's fifth to win at least a share of a division championship. He also won a conference title in his second season and he has been to the College World Series five times since 2004.

"The success and winning and Omaha, and last year literally an out from winning a national championship — certainly I think when you think of one of the great programs in our country, you think about Arkansas," Bianco said. "He's done a wonderful job."

Bianco, who played catcher and coached under Skip Bertman at LSU, took over at Ole Miss in 2001. At the time, the Rebels had been to the NCAA Tournament just twice since 1977.

Under his guidance, Ole Miss has made the NCAA Tournament 16 times, won or shared four division titles, won two SEC Tournament titles and the regular-season championship in 2009.

In 2014, the Rebels made their first trip to the College World Series in 42 years.

"They're always good," Van Horn said. "He's an outstanding coach with pitchers and catchers, and oversees everything. I have a lot of respect for him and their whole program."

Because the Razorbacks and Rebels are in the same division, Van Horn's and Bianco's teams have played at least three times each season since 2003. Throw in some neutral-site matchups, and the coaches will be in opposing dugouts for at least the 62nd and 63rd times — and possibly a 64th — in this super regional.

By comparison, Ron Polk and Bertman — the two winningest head coaches in league history — met 66 times between 1984-2001 while Bertman was at LSU and Polk was at Mississippi State and Georgia.

Bianco's Rebels have beaten Van Horn's Razorbacks 37 of 61 times, including 10 of the past 14.

"They've had our number," Van Horn said. "We've had a real hard time against them, especially the last four or five years."

Ole Miss leads this year's series 3-2, including two victories at Baum-Walker Stadium in March. If this weekend's super regional goes to a third game, it would be the eighth time the teams have met, which would be an Arkansas record for most games against one team in the same season.

"You get a little worried about tendencies and signs and different things," Van Horn said. "Sometimes you change it up a little bit or change an indicator, or whatever the case may be. Really, it just boils down to making pitches and fielding and hitting, and whoever the best will win this series."

Bianco said it can be easy to overthink things playing an opponent so many times.

"It's not like football," Bianco said. "I think you can get too much into that, that you're going to run the power sweep too many times. Baseball is played differently."

Van Horn, who went to two College World Series at Nebraska, is looking to go back for the eighth time. He is tied with North Carolina's Mike Fox and Florida Kevin O'Sullivan for the second-most appearances in Omaha by active head coaches, behind outgoing Florida State coach Mike Martin (16).

Bianco is looking to become the second Ole Miss coach to take the Rebels to multiple College World Series. Tom Swayze led the program to Omaha three times between 1956-69.