The Ole Miss Rebels will never know if 2020 would have been their year.

But there was plenty of reason to think so had the COVID-19 pandemic not shut down the season.

After an opening night loss to then-No. 1 Louisville, the Rebels ran off 16 consecutive victories, led the nation in home runs, finished top-5 in runs scored, and their pitching staff posted a combined 2.92 ERA.

The good news?

Ole Miss returns all but two players from that roster including its top three starters from last year highlighted by All-Americans Gunnar Hoglund and Doug Nikhazy.

After an offseason in which many of their players got creative to stay in baseball shape and improve, the Rebels are ranked as high as No. 4 by Baseball America – their highest ranking since 2008.

“We’re excited about our team and we think we have plenty of depth,” Ole Miss coach Mike Bianco said. “But we’re not unlike a lot of other teams in our league because of COVID and because of expanded rosters and the NCAA allowing us to extend to 35 and other things.”

Ole Miss is seeking its second trip to Omaha in the past three years and sixth since 2005.

The Rebels kick off their season in the State Farm College Baseball Showdown that will feature five other nationally-ranked programs from the SEC and Big 12 conferences — Texas, TCU, Texas Tech, Arkansas and Mississippi State — at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas.

Ole Miss is scheduled to open against TCU and then play Mississippi State and Arkansas over the next two days.

“It’s exciting facing tough competition in a major league park like that and it sounds like we may have about 14,000 or 15,000 fans there, too,” Hoglund said. “I’m just going to go out there and prepare like any other game.”

While Bianco said many things can change during the team’s preseason workouts leading up to the opener, he has a projected lineup and starting rotation in mind as well as who his closer will likely be.

Ole Miss, barring any COVID-19 issues in terms of scheduling, will go with Nikhazy on the mound on Fridays followed by Hoglund on Saturdays and sophomore Derek Diamond on Sundays.

Hoglund, a second-team preseason All-American by D1Baseball.com, and Nikhazy, a third-team All-American after last season are both ranked in the top 40 of Baseball America’s college prospects for the upcoming MLB draft.

Diamond is coming off a forearm strain, but Bianco said looked strong in fall scrimmages throwing in the low-90s with an improved slider and changeup.

“These are three guys that can really pitch it,” Bianco said. “I don’t know if we haven’t started a season with these kinds of expectations. We have 22 pitchers on staff right now including a lot of veterans that bring a lot of experience and ones we’re going to count on a lot this spring.”

Bianco also said senior right-hander Taylor Broadway will be the closer, which is a change from a year ago when junior Braden Forsyth handled those duties. Broadway impressed last season with an 0.56 ERA over 16 innings (seven appearances) with 18 strikeouts and three walks. Forsyth had five saves in six appearances last season.

The rest of the bullpen includes right-handers Austin Miller, Max Cioffi, Greer Holston, Logan Savell, Wes Burton and Tyler Myers, who Bianco said was 100 percent coming off Tommy John surgery and throwing consistently between 88-92 miles per hour. Newcomers such as left-hander Luke Baker and righties Cody Adcock, Brandon Johnson, and Josh Malletz should add depth. Bianco has lefty Jackson Kimbrell and righty Drew McDaniel pegged as possible midweek starters.

“Where we felt the abundance of depth was in our pitching staff,” Bianco said. “But it’s about how to be able to use those guys. We’re really good with those three guys on the weekend but there’s an inordinate amount of guys that we have to figure out who are the next guys and who else will come in out of the pen. That’s what I’m focusing on over the next few weeks.”

Ole Miss returns two freshman All-Americans in 2020 in its lineup in catcher Hayden Dunhurst and second baseman Peyton Chatagnier. Dunhurst hit .269 with five home runs in only 52 at-bats in 2020. Chatagnier, who could also play at shortstop, slashed .311/.449/.574 with four home runs last season.

A key position to watch will be who starts alongside Chatagnier at short. Bianco said the frontrunner is freshman Jacob Gonzalez, whom he said made only one error in 20 intrasquad games this past fall. Seniors Tim Elko and Cael Baker round out the infield at third and first respectively. Juniors Kevin Graham, Justin Bench and senior Hayden Leatherwood are expected to start in the outfield going from left to right. And senior Ben Van Cleve is the favorite to be the Rebels’ designated hitter.

“It’s easy to be a good offense when you have such an incredible pitching staff,” Elko said. “We know they’re going to lock it down and we just have to make plays and get hits on our side.

“It’s a really good vibe and we’re feeling really good about this year.”

Andre has covered baseball at the high school, college and both minor-league and major-league levels for the past 15 years for multiple publications including the Miami Herald, the Athletic and Baseball America. You can follow him at @FernandezAndreC on Twitter.