By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
Dr. Eddy Furniss, a family practice physician in Nacogdoches, Texas, was trying to schedule his patient appointments so he can get to Omaha, Nebraska, this weekend and beyond for the College World Series.
His son Will Furniss is the first baseman for the Ole Miss Rebels (41-21), who play No. 5 seed North Carolina (50-12-1) at 6 p.m. Friday on ESPN at Charles Schwab Field.
with 8 homers and 56 RBIs this season Ole Miss photo
The elder Furniss played in three College World Series for LSU at first base and won national championships in 1996 and ’97 under coach Skip Bertman. He was also Dick Howser national Most Outstanding Player of the season in 1998 when he hit 28 home runs.
Former LSU catcher Mike Bianco, who was on Bertman’s 1989 College World Series that beat No. 1 Texas A&M in back-to-back games in College Station to win the NCAA Regional and reach Omaha, will also be at the College World Series. He has to be. He is Ole Miss’ head coach and will try to win his second national championship since winning the Rebels’ first in 2022.
“We knew we were good enough,” Bianco said after Ole Miss swept two games in the NCAA Super Regional over the weekend at Auburn. “They handled the crowd and the pressure. We do hard well.”
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Bianco will be on his eighth trip to Omaha – three as Ole Miss’ head coach, four as Bertman’s assistant coach in 1993, ’94, ’96 and ’97 with three national titles and the one trip as a player. Bianco has coached both Furniss players for a combined seven seasons.
The younger Furniss, who bats left-handed like this dad, hit a two-run home run on Saturday in the Super Regional to put Ole Miss up 4-2 in the top of the eighth inning at Auburn, and the Rebels went on to win 5-3 after a 6-4 win on Friday. It was Furniss’ eighth home run of the season and 55th and 56 RBIs. He is hitting .311 in 62 starts 12 doubles. Furniss hit .305 with 12 home runs and 47 RBIs in 2025 in 58 games and 51 starts.
“It’s the work. It’s the swings and swings that no one is around for, but they have to happen,” Furniss said after the game. “It’s always a work in progress, and I have taken so many swings off my dad from the left side over the years. It was there. I just had to find it. I was just trying to get a base hit to score him, but it went out.”
The elder Furniss remains the Southeastern Conference’s all-time career home run leader with 80 from 1995-98 as well as RBI leader with 308, doubles leader with 87 and career total bases record holder with 689. A College Baseball Hall of Fame inductee in 2010, Furniss entered the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame in 2012.
Will Furniss had already committed to Bianco and Ole Miss from Nacogdoches High before Jay Johnson took over as LSU’s coach in 2022. He hit .298 with three home runs and 15 RBIs as a freshman in 2023 in 48 games with 38 starts, including 32 at designated hitter. He hit . 236 with nine homers and 35 RBIs in 51 games ands 43 starts in 2024.
Four former LSU players will be in action at the College World Series, which begins at 1 p.m. Friday on ESPN when No. 16 seed West Virginia (45-15) plays Troy (38-30) in its first CWS.
On Saturday, No. 7 seed Alabama (42-19) and two former LSU players will play Oklahoma (38-22) at 2 p.m. on ESPN. Those are senior starting catcher Brady Neal and senior starting second baseman Brennan Holt – both left-handed hitters.
Neal, who is from Tallahassee, Florida, transferred to the Crimson Tide after the 2024 season at LSU and leads Alabama in hitting at .330 in 58 games and 55 starts. He has 10 home runs, 15 doubles and 50 RBIs. Neal hit .219 in 2025 with six doubles, three home runs and 19 RBIs in 28 games and 21 starts.
At LSU in 2024, he hit .276 with nine home runs, eight doubles and 31 RBIs in 44 games and 33 starts. He played in just 26 games with 26 starts in 2023 with the Tigers after suffering a back injury and finished hitting .209 with three homers and nine RBIs.
Holt, who is from Parkview Baptist in Baton Rouge, played only briefly at LSU in the 2022 season because of an injury. He transferred to Oklahoma State for 2023, where he hit .173. At South Alabama, though, he came into his own, hitting .266 with 15 doubles and 20 stolen bases in 56 starts in 2024. In 2025, he hit .303 for South Alabama in 45 games and 43 starts with six home runs and 14 doubles.
He is Alabama’s starting second baseman this season with 60 starts and is hitting .240 with two homers, 23 RBIs and 15 stolen bases.
Former LSU outfielder Ashton Larson is playing for No. 6 Texas (45-13), which will play No. 3 Georgia (42-19) at 7 p.m. Saturday on ESPN. Larson transferred to the Longhorns after the 2025 season at LSU when he hit .256 in 34 games and five starts with two homers and 12 RBIs. Larson is hitting .280 this season in 53 games and 43 starts with seven doubles, a home run and a 16 RBIs.
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