By Adam Brown
Ole Miss senior first baseman Will Furniss met with the media on Tuesday as the Rebels prepare for opening day on Friday against Nevada.
“It’s weird (that I am a senior),” Furniss said. “I remember freshman year when I talked to reporters, I was really nervous. This year, it’s a lot easier to do it. It’s weird. It has gone by really fast, but it’s been a great three years. This last year, I think is going to be a pretty special one, and I’m glad I have this team to do it with because I think we have a real chance to go really deep in the postseason.”
Furniss on hitting left-handed pitchers…
“My dad (Eddy Furniss) is left-handed and threw to me left-handed my whole life,” Furniss said. “I was really good at it my whole life. When I got here, I think it was just maybe the left-handers were a tick better, and I didn’t really hit very well against them in my freshman year, and not really my sophomore year either. Last year, I had reverse splits. I finally figured it out. I got pretty good at it last year, and now it is just natural to me, just cuz my dad throws left-handed BP to me, it’s how I always saw it. That’s really all I would hit was him.”
Will Furniss
As a junior, Furniss hit .305 at the plate with 12 home runs, 47 RBI, 43 walks, and finished second on the team with an on-base percentage of .424.
Furniss has faced the Rebels’ pitching staff during inner-squad games and has talked about going up against sophomore left-handed transfer Will Libbert from Missouri.
“He’s really good,” Furniss said. “I have faced him every freakin weekend. He has made a lot of progress since he got here. His stuff is good. It wasn’t great. This spring, it really stood out to me. It was just really tough, ABs. All of the ABs have probably been the hardest—the first couple of weeks of inner squad I’ve had here. Our staff has elite stuff and Libbert has really come a long way. I think I even touched 97 at one point this fall, which is really good.”
Ole Miss and the Nevada Wolf Pack take the diamond on Friday for a three-game series over the weekend. The first pitch is set for 4 p.m. CT and can be streamed on SEC Network+.