Tim Elko: ‘This is why we came back’
Tim Elko and Kevin Graham have had their fair share of heartbreak throughout their Ole Miss baseball careers. Tim Elko was part of a No. 4 national seed team in 2018 that failed to get out of their own Regional. Both Elko and Graham fell a game short of Omaha in 2019. Both were part of one of the best starts in program history, that never saw at 18th game. And both fell a game short of the College World Series just this past year.
Instead of trying to pursue their aspirations of playing professional baseball after all that, they chose to be part of this team – a team that feverish expectations going into the 2022 season.
Nobody expected their team to be where they are now, except them. Regardless, the emotions came out once Dylan DeLucia threw his final strikeout to knock off Arkansas 2-0 on Thursday and even afterwards.
“I mean, the emotions are great. We’re excited to get to play in the National Championship series. This is why we came back,” Elko said. “We knew that this team had the potential, and obviously we had a little bit of a rough patch there in the middle. Through and through, we always knew that, if we just kept believing and stuck together, we could be right here. Excited to get to play this weekend.”
“Just so proud of everybody,” Graham said. “Fun group of guys to be around. I think that’s one of the big reasons why we had the turnaround.”
Offense came at a premium on Thursday, but Dylan DeLucia threw yet another masterpiece on the mound to help Elko, Graham and their team to get to the National Championship series. DeLucia pitched a complete game four-hit shutout when it was all said and done, striking out seven batters in the process in his second complete game in an Ole Miss uniform.
The Rebels will now face a well-rested Oklahoma in the National Championship series, starting Saturday, June 25. The games can be seen on the ESPN family of networks or listened to on the Ole Miss Radio Network. Inside The Rebels will once again be on site to provide updates, notes, facts, observations and more.
“A lot of people have the goal to be here, right? One of the challenges we talked about is to not just come here, but to win,” Bianco said. “This isn’t a bowl where years from now people know if you went to a bowl, but they don’t know if you won or lost. You went to the Gator Bowl, the Sugar Bowl, whatever. This is a tournament where it’s like basketball, you’re supposed to win and move on. Just proud that they continued to believe in one another. They’ve played well.
Come 2026 we will be BACK.
