TJ McCants returns to Oxford this weekend in key SEC series between Ole Miss and No. 23 Alabama
College football and basketball have seen the strangeness the transfer portal has of bringing a player face to face with its former team a year or so after transferring out.
Now college baseball is experiencing that as Ole Miss welcomes No. 23 Alabama and a very familiar face to Oxford this weekend. Former outfielder TJ McCants will make his return to Oxford-University Stadium after spending his first three seasons with the Rebels.
McCants will be sitting in a different dugout with the visiting Crimson Tide after helping bring a national title to Oxford two years ago.
“It’s kind of the sign of the times and we’re happy for him and proud of him,” Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco said of McCants return. “Everybody in the program loves him and was a great player for us and, certainly, a national champion and part of that team and other really good teams. A great kid and a great family. Lot of really good memories with him, but he needed a new place and he’s having a great year.”
McCants transferred to Alabama after the 2023 season. During his Ole Miss career he played in 167 games and had a .261 batting average with 22 home runs and 93 runs batted in.
During that 2022 NCAA Tournament run McCants was a key contributor, including part of the back-to-back-to-back home runs against Oklahoma in game one of the College World Series Final.
Now the Cantonment, Florida native is wearing Alabama crimson red. Through his first 47 games with the Tide McCants is hitting .331 and amassed 15 home runs and 45 RBIs.
Beyond the homecoming aspect of the series it is another key SEC weekend for Ole Miss who is trying to keep its postseason pulse.
The Rebels (22-18, 6-12 SEC) managed to take one from Georgia and avoid being swept when they played all three games in 24 hours. A series win was needed but the one victory kept them in the Hoover picture.
Currently Ole Miss is a game ahead of LSU and four games ahead of Auburn as the last two teams in the SEC. Only the top 12 teams play in next month’s SEC Tournament.
In the SEC West standings the Rebels are a game behind Alabama (26-15, 7-11) and this weekend would be a battle for fifth place in the division.
When it comes to the NCAA Tournament picture Ole Miss hurt its chances with its showing in Athens. Baseball America had the Rebels as one of the First Four Out in last week’s Field of 64 projections but Wednesday’s latest update has them as the first team in the Next Four Out.
One metric that is helping Ole Miss is its RPI, which is sitting at 22 as of Wednesday. This weekend offers up another strong RPI boost with the Crimson Tide sitting at No. 17.
Game of the series is set for a 6:30 p.m. CT first pitch on Thursday.
