Ole Miss baseball coach Mike Bianco scores 1,000th win, earns six-figure bonus
The road to 1,000 career wins started on a Friday in February in Baton Rouge, where first-year coach Mike Bianco and his McNeese State team earned their first win of the 1998 season over Southern 5-1.
It ended Saturday, when Bianco coached Ole Miss baseball to a 3-2 win over Georgia in Athens, splitting a doubleheader and avoiding what would have been a damaging sweep.
The first 100 wins of Bianco's career came in three seasons at McNeese. With Saturday's victory over Georgia (29-10, 9-9 SEC), he reached 900 victories in charge of the Rebels (21-18, 6-12). And that landmark comes with a bonus.
Bianco received $125,000 for achieving 900 victories with the Rebels. At 1,000 — and at 1,100 and 1,200 — he earns an additional $250,000.
The bonus will be added to his $1.625 million in base compensation, according to his contract, obtained by The Clarion Ledger via open records request.
After dropping a 7-2 decision in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader, Ole Miss fell behind 1-0 in the second game on an errant throw made by catcher Trenton Lyons, who was looking to cut down Georgia's player stealing third.
Gunnar Dennis, starting for the first time since March 31, gave the Rebels 4.1 quality innings to keep them in it. Ethan Lege's 12th home run of the season tied the game in the sixth, and they went ahead for the first time when Will Furniss' single scored Jackson Ross later in the same inning. They scored a necessary insurance run on Andrew Fischer's sacrifice fly in the seventh.
JT Quinn, returning from an injury that had held him out since March 2, gave Ole Miss 1.2 innings of relief, allowing one run. Austin Simmons, who pitched in the first game of the doubleheader, and Brayden Jones closed it out from there.
With 900 wins in charge of an SEC program, Bianco ranks third behind Ron Polk, who accumulated 1,218 wins while coaching Mississippi State and Georgia, as well as Vanderbilt's Tim Corbin.
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David Eckert covers Ole Miss for the Clarion Ledger. Email him at deckert@gannett.com or reach him on Twitter @davideckert98.
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This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Ole Miss baseball coach Mike Bianco earns 1,000th win and bonus check
