Of the players on the Omaha-bound Ole Miss Rebels, sophomore outfielder Hayden Federico comes at baseball with a difference perspective.
It starts with his father being a former Division I baseball coach at the University of Louisiana Monroe in the Sunbelt Conference. Coach Michael Federico is now the head of Player of Development at Louisiana Tech.
Fellow Sunbelt foe, Troy University, is part of the 8-team College World Series field and will play West Virginia in Friday’s first game at 1 p.m. The winner will get the Ole Miss-North Carolina from Friday’s second game on Sunday.
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Ole Miss, 42-20, faces North Carolina (50-12-1) Friday at 6 p.m. from Schwab Stadium in Omaha. The game will be televised by ESPN.
Hayden Federico
Coach Federico took Meridian Community College to the National Junior College World Series in Grand Junction in 2003 when Hayden wasn’t even born yet.
Coach Fed, as he’s called, came up through the Corky Palmer, Scott Berry tree that starts at Meridian and goes through Southern Mississippi. Coach Fed was an assistant at Memphis from 2005-2009, before joining Berry at USM after Palmer’s retirement from 2010 to 2017. He then got the head baseball job at ULM in 2018 before resigning after the 2025 season. Coach Fed played collegiately at USM.
Hayden Federico said he and his dad have had lengthy conversations about going to Omaha for the CWS.
“It’s special that I’m going to be the first to go up there as a competitor, but my dad will be there with us,” Hayden said.
One reason why Hayden made it first was the catch he made in Game 2 of the Auburn Super Regional last Saturday. Federico ran down a well-hit ball to center from Auburn hitter Ethin Bingaman. Federico made a well-time leap and snow-coned the catch. The catch saved three runs as Auburn had loaded the bases and with two out, all were running.
“It was hit harder than I thought. I made my leap and then snow coned it. Once I opened up the glove, it fell right into the pocket,” Hayden said.
“I just gave Glory to God for being able to make the catch. The fans in right field didn’t like it, they were ruthless all weekend to us.”
Hayden Federico
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The catch proved to be a huge motivator for the Rebels.
“We had the top of the lineup up. Judd (Utermark) got the walk and then I just fell (Will) Furniss was going to do something big right here.” Hayden said.
Furniss hit a two run homer to right to unbreak the 2-all tie. Tristan Bissetta then followed with a mammoth solo shot to make it 5-2.
“To get two runs was big, to go to three was huge,” Hayden said. “I don’t know if Bissetta’s ball has landed yet.”
Federcio has improved greatly from his freshman season where he hit just .243. He has raised his average to 296 this season with a .420 on base percentage.
He says this team has great leadership from its seniors like Utermark and Furniss.
“We’re just a bunch of relentless guys who want to keep this thing going,” he said. “It means a lot to be able to do this for our senors like Utermark and Furniss. Those guys went through some struggles their first two years. Their the vets now and are the guys we look up to.”
