JACKSON — Ole Miss baseball coach Mike Bianco likes how his team’s resumé stacks up for a potential NCAA Tournament host bid, but what would make it even stronger would be a Southeastern Conference tournament title.

The Rebels (40-15) open SEC tourney play today against Georgia (35-20) at 1:30 at Regions Park. Arkansas and Florida kicked off the tournament with a morning game. Vanderbilt-LSU and South Carolina-Alabama tangle in the evening session.

Bianco wouldn’t say how many wins it would take for the Rebels to lock up a top 16 seed or even better, a Super 8 national seed. He just knows the Rebels have already done a lot.

“We just won a share of the conference championship, our first since 1977, in the No. 1 rated RPI league in the nation. We’re also the second-best team in the nation when it comes to our 19 wins against the top 50 in the nation,” Bianco said. “I think we’ll have a good tournament, especially since we tend to play well in Hoover.”

The Rebels, however, will be without ace pitcher Scott Bittle. The Ferriss Trophy finalist has been ruled out of the SEC tournament with a strained bicep.

“No one has made more of an impact in our league on a given weekend than Scott Bittle. He’s meant everything for Ole Miss baseball the last three years. Scott’s not our closer, he’s our winner,” Bianco said.

While the Rebels battle Georgia, Bittle will be in Birmingham to see Dr. James Andrews about his arm.

“It’s getting better and I was able to do some long toss, but I wasn’t able to go the Arkansas series and I’m out of the SEC Tournament. But our guys showed at Auburn and Arkansas that they can get it done. One through 10, they can get it done,” Bittle said.

Brett Bukvich takes over as the team’s stopper. He’s 9-2 with a 4.19 earned run average.

Bittle added that Georgia, while coming into the SEC Tourney in a slump having lost 11 of its last 13 games, is still dangerous.

“Georgia is a very good, talented team,” Bittle said.

The Bulldogs are led by Rich Poythress with 21 home runs. Georgia has hit 97 bombs as a team compared to Ole Miss with 52. The Rebels, however, have scored 429 runs to Georgia’s 412.

Ole Miss junior right fielder and former Vicksburg High standout Jordan Henry agreed the Bulldogs still have some bite.

“Georgia is still a great team. They’ve struggled lately, but 1-8, they are going to be tough,” said Henry, who Tuesday was named to the All-SEC first team. Henry comes in batting .342 and leads the team in runs with 64 and 33 stolen bases. Henry said getting a share of the school’s first SEC regular season title will be a boost to Ole Miss.

“We’re real excited about being co-champs. We don’t worry about that much about seeding for the tournament.That stuff will work itself out,” Henry said.

“We just want to keep the same recipe we’ve been using throughout the season,” Bianco said. “Georgia is a former No. 1 ranked team and they will be very difficult.”

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Contact Jeff Byrd at jbyrd@vicksburgpost.com