Ole Miss Baseball began their 2026 season against Nevada this past weekend with a three-game set. The Rebels won game one 11-3, game two 5-1 and game three 13-2.
While not a powerhouse program, Nevada is coming off a 2025 Mountain West Conference regular season championship.
Game one
Hunter Elliott took to the mound to open the season for the Rebels. The opening day lineup included power hitter Judd Utermark batted second, Hayden Federico batted fifth and Austin Fawley was seventh in the order.
Nevada catcher Jake Harvey hit a home run to open the scoring after a nine-pitch at-bat to open the season.
“I feel like a lot of times, first inning stuff is on me for being all over the place,” Elliott said in a postgame interview. “But I felt like that at-bat, I executed really well. I threw the pitches where I wanted to, and sometimes that’s just how baseball is.”
Jayce Dobie laced a double in the next at-bat to threaten further in the first.
A single from Junhyuk Kwon could have put the Wolf Pack up 2-0, but the runner fell when rounding third. Runners were at the corners with two away. Pitching coach Joel Mangrum came out for a chat and to give Elliott a breather; he was already at 25 pitches.
After the mound visit, Elliott had a pickoff attempt at first, first baseman Will Furniss threw to home and got the out to end the inning. Elliott only allowed one run, but he gave up three hard hits in the first.
Murray State transfer Dom Decker, who helped knock the Rebels out of the playoffs in the NCAA Oxford Regional last season, led off for his new squad. He hit a bloop double to right center.
A wild pitch, a walk and a hit by pitch loaded the bases with no outs. Transfer designated hitter Tristan Bissetta roped a double that cleared the bases and put Ole Miss up 3-1. Fawley hit into a double play, while the run scored to make it 4-1.
Elliott got through the second unscathed, and the Rebels went back to work on offense. A pair of hits put runners on first and second with one away. Furniss came through with a RBI single up the middle to make it 5-1.
Bissetta hit a chopper that deflected off the Nevada first baseman’s glove and scooted past the second baseman to drive in a run. Ole Miss did not make great contact in the frame but still scratched across a couple.
Starter Dominic Desch hit his fourth batter of the game, then Furniss hit his second single up the middle to put runners on the corners in the fourth. Hayden Federico drew his second walk and the bases were loaded for the second time.
Right fielder Daniel Pacella extended the lead with a RBI groundout, 7-1 Rebels.
Elliott ended his night on a high note. He struck out the side in the fifth and four straight overall. He went five innings, allowed three hits (all in the first), gave up one earned run, walked two and struck out seven. St. Louis transfer Owen Kelly was the first pitcher out of the pen.
Back-to-back singles that snuck by Decker put the Rebels on their heels with runners at first and third with no outs. An error from shortstop Brayden Randle pushed across Nevada’s second run.
Kelly could have gotten out of the inning, but the middle infield was unable to come up with three fieldable hits. Randle caught a lineout then tried to double up the runner at second, instead the throw went well wide and allowed a run to score, 7-3.
Kelly left the game after just one out. Neither run allowed was earned. Hudson Calhoun came in with runners on second and third. Calhoun shut the door on the Wolf Pack with two Ks and ended the frame.
“Kelly’s one of my best friends … I don’t want his runs to score,” Calhoun said in a postgame interview.
Pacella got his first knock as a Rebel and drove in a run to make it 8-3 in the sixth. Fawley threw out his first would-be base stealer of the season in the seventh.
Federico got his first hit of the season with a single up the middle to make it 9-3. Redshirt Brett Mosley, who came into the game to replace Pacella earlier, launched a two-run homer on the first pitch of his collegiate career.
Owen Paino replaced Decker at second and Calhoun closed the game out. He pitched 3.2 innings, gave up four hits and struck out five. A double play ended the game and the Rebels took the opening day victory 11-3.
“(Calhoun) showed how good he is. (He did) what (Mason) Morris did last year where he came in and punched out a couple guys, gets us off the field and then puts up a bunch of zeros the rest of the way,” head coach Mike Bianco said in a postgame interview.
Ole Miss out-hit Nevada 11-9. Defensively, the home side had two errors, both came in the sixth inning.
“I thought again, besides probably the sixth (inning), I thought we were really good defensively,” Bianco said.
The Rebels were 5-for-17 with runners in scoring position (.294 average), and they held Nevada to a 1-for-10 night with RISP.
Game two
Sophomore Cade Townsend got the start Saturday afternoon and the Rebels went for the series win against the Wolf Pack. They came away with a 5-1 victory led by three homers.
Federico led off in game two, while Decker slid down to the sixth spot and Collin Reuter saw action out of the DH spot. Utermark stayed in the two spot.
Utermark got the scoring started with a solo shot in the first. Nevada scored their lone run on the day off a sacrifice fly in the second. From there, Townsend found a groove. He went 4.2 innings, gave up four hits, struck out a career high eight and did not walk a batter.
Bissetta continued his hot start to the season with a two-run homer in the second to put Ole Miss up 3-1. Redshirt freshman Tate Sirmans hit the Rebels’ third homer of the day in the fourth to extend their lead to 4-1. A Bisetta single in the sixth pushed the lead to 5-1.
Sophomore reliever Taylor Rabe made his first appearance of the year. He went 3.1 innings and only surrendered two hits. Landon Koenig came in to close the game out in the ninth and had no trouble.
Game three
Ole Miss went for the opening weekend sweep with Missouri transfer Wil Libbert starting on Sunday. Shortstop Owen Paino got his first start of the season and Bissetta batted second with Utermark slotting into third.
The Rebels threatened early with a Decker walk, stolen base and a Bissetta single. Utermark got jammed but still managed to hit a double down the right field line to drive in the first run of the day.
Furniss beat the shift with a single to the left side and put Ole Miss up 3-0. Pacella hit his first homer of the run to put Ole Miss up 5-0. It was a towering shot that went deep into the student section.
Libbert had a quick first, but his offense sent nine to plate in a long bottom frame. Nevada got one back with a solo homer in the second.
Reuter singled to load the bases in the third then Federico drew a walk and Fawley scored on a passed ball to make it 7-1.
Libbert got into a jam in the fourth but escaped the first-and-third situation with just one run off a sacrifice fly. Reuter got his second hit of the day in the fourth with a RBI double, 8-2.
Libbert ended his day with a strikeout. He pitched five innings, gave up four hits, allowed two runs, tied a career high in strikeouts with seven and walked one.
Utermark just missed his second homer of the weekend, but instead got a RBI double to make it 9-2. He scored the Rebels’ tenth run of the day by stealing third base and heading home after the ball got away from the third baseman.
Fawley’s first hit of the season was a RBI double. Reuter followed it up with a two-run single to put Ole Miss up by 11.
Landon Waters came in for the seventh inning to end the game early due to the 10-after-seven run rule. Waters got into a bit of jam, but escaped it to secure the win and the sweep.
“Yesterday (Saturday), I know that we had five runs, but it felt more dominant than that,” Utermark said in a postgame interview. “I felt like the lead was almost a double-digit lead, but the other two games were great. Each guy knew their individual role.”
