Ole Miss picks up accomplished starting pitcher in transfer portal
Published:
Ole Miss baseball earned a huge victory in the transfer portal, luring former San Diego State right-hander Marko Sipila to Oxford.
Sipila announced his plans to head to the SEC and play for Mike Bianco on his social media account on Saturday afternoon with the headline: “Last one in Oxford.”
Here is Sipila’s post, complete with himself pictured in a full Rebels uniform, which he’ll be wearing in 2026:
The 6-4, 205-pound Sipila will have 1 year of eligibility left, and he hopes to make the most of it at Ole Miss. Sipila had a 3.91 ERA in 71.1 innings last season, but that doesn’t tell the story of how successful he was at San Diego State.
Sipila was a 2nd-team All-Mountain West pitcher in 2025. He went 4-3 with 74 strikeouts against just 25 walks in 12 starts for the Aztecs.
He’ll be joining an Ole Miss program that’s coming off a successful season that didn’t last quite as long as the Rebels would’ve hoped. Ole Miss went 43-21 overall and 16-14 in the SEC. The Rebels advanced to the NCAA regionals before being bounced by Murray State, which advanced all the way to the College World Series.
Sipila was part of a brigade of San Diego State players who entered the portal earlier this month when head coach Shaun Cole’s contract wasn’t renewed after 2 losing seasons. Earlier this week, the Aztecs hired Kevin Vance as their new head coach, but 3 days later Sipila decided that wasn’t enough to keep him on the West Coast.
He’ll be heading to Oxford instead to start a new chapter of his college baseball career.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
