Dec. 18, 2012

OXFORD, Miss. – Ole Miss head baseball coach Mike Bianco will serve as the pitching coach for the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team, the organization announced Tuesday when it announced the coaching staff for its collegiate squad that will compete internationally this summer.

It is the first time for the Rebel head coach to serve as an assistant with the organization despite a long standing history between Bianco’s Rebels and USA Baseball. Seven players have competed internationally with the USA National Team in the last 10 seasons.

Bianco joins Tim Esmay of Arizona State and Ed Servais of Creighton as assistant coaches on the staff for 2013. Esmay and Servais are both head coaches of their respective collegiate programs.

“As we continue preparations for the 2013 Collegiate National Team season we are pleased to have Mike Bianco, Tim Esmay and Ed Servais join the staff,” said Eric Campbell, USA Baseball General Manager, National Teams. “These coaches complete a great staff for the coming summer, and we look forward to having them represent our country in international competition.”

TCU head coach Jim Schlossnagle had previously been announced as the head coach for the international team.

“It’s a tremendous honor and I’m excited about the opportunity to be a part of the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team this summer,” Bianco said. “It’s exciting to be part of a tremendous staff and to get to work with a good friend of mine like Jim Schlossnagle and great coaches like Tim Esmay and Ed Servais.”

“Coach Bianco and I are long time friends and colleagues,” Schlossnagle said. “I have a tremendous amount of respect for his baseball knowledge and ability to help pitchers improve. It will be a pleasure and an honor to have him on staff all summer with the USA National Team.”

Bianco is entering his 13th season at Ole Miss and has brought a sustained level of success to the Rebel baseball program with a career record of 571-349-1 as a head coach (471-278-1 at Ole Miss).

In that time, Bianco has led the Rebels to 10 NCAA Tournament appearances, the 2009 Southeastern Conference Championship, the 2006 SEC Tournament Championship and a pair of SEC Western Division titles. The Rebels have advanced to four NCAA Super Regionals and played in a Regional Championship game six of the last eight years.

In his tenure at Ole Miss, Bianco has coached seven players to All-America honors and 31 All-SEC selections and nine freshman All-SEC selections. He has had 11 players garner Freshman All-America honors, and coached the SEC Player of the Year (Stephen Head – 2004), SEC Pitcher of the Year (Drew Pomeranz – 2010) and three SEC Freshmen of the Year selections (Seth Smith  - 2002, Stephen Head – 2003, Jordan Henry – 2007).

Seven of his Ole Miss players were active on Major League rosters this past season, and the Rebels have seen 70 draft selections under his leadership.

The dates and opponents for the 2013 schedule for the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team will be announced in the coming weeks on USABaseball.com.

USA Baseball is the national governing body for amateur baseball in the United States and is a member of the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) and the International Baseball Federation (IBAF).The organization selects and trains the World Baseball Classic, World Cup and Pan American games (and all other USA Baseball professional teams), and the Collegiate, 18U, 15U and Women’s National Teams, all of which participate in various domestic and international competitions each year. USA Baseball also presents the Golden Spikes Award annually to the top amateur baseball player in the country.