No. 20 Ole Miss Baseball won its series against No. 9 Texas A&M at Swayze Field on Friday, May 8 and Saturday, May 9. The Rebels won 5-3 to open the series, then took an 18-5 loss in the first game of a doubleheader before earning a 6-5 rubber match win Saturday night.
Ace Hunter Elliott led the Rebels to the game one victory with a stellar performance and game three starter Taylor Rabe threw 14 strikeouts en route to the series win.
Third baseman Judd Utermark’s single in the seventh inning of game three clinched the series for Ole Miss.
Game one
Elliott worked around a one-out double in the first with two strikeouts. His lively fastball sat around 92 and generated a couple swings and misses early on.
Texas A&M pitcher Ethan Darden made his first start for the Aggies on Friday night. Second baseman Dom Decker walked on four pitches to begin the frame.
With the Aggies shifted to the left side of second base, Utermark singled to the right side to put runners on first and third with no outs. Furniss grounded into a run-scoring double play, 1-0 Rebels.
Elliott got two more strikeouts with the fastball in the second.
With one out in the bottom of the second, designated hitter Collin Reuter reached base on a hit by pitch, then catcher Austin Fawley singled to right and advanced Reuter to third. Shortstop Owen Paino walked to load the bases for left fielder Topher Jones.
Jones grounded into a fielder’s choice, but he beat the throw to first to avoid the double play and scratched across a second run. The Rebels had yet to fully capitalize on scoring opportunities, but held a 2-0 going into the third.
Elliott struck out four batters in the first two innings on 49 pitches. He was rebounding nicely after his two previous poor starts.
Usual Aggie Friday starter Shane Sdao came in to replace Darden in the third. Utermark welcomed the new pitcher with his second knock on a hard hit single that went right through the shift.
Furniss drew a four-pitch walk, and Ole Miss had multiple runners on for the third straight inning. Right fielder Tristan Bissetta struck out for the first out of the frame.
Center fielder Hayden Federico walked to load the bases, then Reuter grounded into a double play to end the inning. The Rebels had chance after chance to drive in runs, but poor timely hitting held them to a 2-0 lead.
Elliott and the Rebel defense erased a leadoff walk with a 4-6-3 double play in the fourth. A strong throw from Paino and good stretch from Furniss completed the twin killing.
After allowing a bloop single, Elliott struck the next batter out to end the frame. The punch out marked his seventh of the game and 300th of his career. While he got out of the inning unscathed, his command was a little off in the fourth.
Paino laid down a bunt for a single with one away in the fourth. Sdao balked to move Paino to second, then Jones hit a sacrifice fly to advance him to third. Decker singled to drive in the third Rebel run.
Texas A&M got back-to-back softly hit singles to put runners on the corners with no outs in the fifth. Utermark made a diving grab and got the lead runner out at second, but the first Aggie run of the game scored, 3-1.
Elliott got a strikeout for the second out. Then, with two strikes, Aggie third baseman Gavin Grahovac hit a chopper up the middle that Decker could not handle. Paino had Aggie center fielder Caden Sorrell played perfectly with a shift, but committed an error that led to another run, 3-2.
While two runs scored in the inning, Elliott threw some of his best pitches of the night to keep the lead. He came back out for the sixth with 94 pitches and got a first-pitch ground out. He struck out the next batter swinging on an off-speed pitch.
Elliott plunked a batter then picked him off on a steal attempt, but Paino dropped the ball at second. He struck a batter out looking to end the frame in what could have been his final regular season home start.
“Going into it, I knew there was a possibility that this might be my last one (start) here,” Elliott said in a postgame interview. “I feel like I maybe soaked it in a little more. I enjoyed myself out there a little more and maybe that’s what helped me kind of just settle in.”
He earned the win, pitched six innings, allowed five hits, gave up one earned run, walked a batter and struck out 11 on 111 pitches.
“I felt like I kind of got control and command of things early in the game. It was a good night,” Elliott said.
Hudson Calhoun came in for Elliott to begin the seventh. He struck the first batter out swinging, then, on an 0-2 count, hit Aggie shortstop Boston Kellner in the head. Kellner left the game and Ben Royo replaced him.
Calhoun got the top-two Aggie hitters out to end the frame with the Rebel lead intact.
Decker hit a one-out single in the bottom of the seventh. Lyons replaced Sdao. Utermark reached on a fielder’s choice off the new pitcher.
Furniss delivered an RBI double just over the outstretched arm of the left fielder and Bissetta followed it up with an RBI single to make it 5-2. The Ole Miss rally came with two outs and gave them much needed insurance late in the game.
Closer Walker Hooks came into the game in the eighth for a six-out save. He gave up a double to begin his outing. Utermark corralled a hard hit ball right at him, but could not make the play. The Aggies loaded the bases with no outs after Furniss could not come up with a shallow pop up in right field.
Hooks got a swinging strikeout for the first out of the inning. He induced a ground ball to Paino and he got the force out at second, but the runner beat the throw to first. The fielder’s choice made it 5-3.
Hooks fanned the next batter for the third out of the inning. He worked out of the bases loaded, no-out jam with just one unearned run allowed.
In the ninth, Hooks induced a fly ball for the first out, then Paino overthrew Furniss for his second error and third team error of the night. Hooks struck out Sorrell for the second out and Furniss snagged a liner at first to win the series opener.
Game two
Game two was Ole Miss’ senior day. Prior to the game, they honored seniors Bissetta, Reuter, Furniss, Utermark, Elliott, Landon Waters, Daniel Pacella and four student staff members.
Starter Cade Townsend had no problems in the first or second, but ran into trouble in the third when the Aggies took the lead with back-to-back solo homers. Townsend walked the leadoff hitter, then Utermark committed a costly error. Aggie DH Chris Hacopian hit a three-run homer to make it 5-0.
The Rebels got back within three in the bottom of the third. Pacella was hit by a pitch, then Furniss singled. Utermark came up clutch with a two-run, line drive double. Federico hit a single up the middle to score Utermark, 5-3.
The Aggies tacked on a two-run homer in the fourth. Townsend’s day was done after 3 ⅓ innings and six earned run. Waters came in for relief and gave up the fifth Aggie home run of the day to make it 9-3.
A&M brought in reliever Gavin Lyons in the fourth. Decker singled to drive in Reuter. Utermark roped his second double of the game to score Pacella, 9-5. Ole Miss loaded the bases, but failed to shrink the deficit further.
Waters gave up two singles to begin the fifth. Landon Koenig came in to replace him. A&M scored three more runs on a passed ball and a two-run double, 12-5. The Aggies made it 17-5 in the sixth to put the game in run-rule territory. Game two ended 18-5 in seven innings.
Game three
Ole Miss needed to win the rubber match to have a good chance to host a regional. They did just that thanks to Rabe.
Rabe’s fastball touched 98 early on and he went 1-2-3 in the first.
Federico doubled in the second and Fawley launched a two-run homer to center field to give Ole Miss the lead. Jones made it back-to-back homers with a solo shot to dead center, 3-0.
In the third, Federico drew a two-out walk and Reuter deposited a baseball into the Aggie bullpen, 5-0.
Rabe got into his first jam of the game when three straight Aggie singles loaded the bases in the fourth. He balked to score the first Aggie run of the game. Texas A&M first baseman Blake Binderup hit a three-run homer to make it 5-4.
Royo hit another home run to tie it. The disaster inning cost Ole Miss a sizable lead.
Clayton Freshcorn replaced Aggie starter Weston Moss in the fourth.
Rabe’s day was done in the seventh. He pitched six innings, allowed six hits, gave up five earned runs and struck out 14. JP Robertson came in for Rabe in the seventh and Utermark helped him out with a nice play to end the inning.
Decker walked and stole second in the bottom of the inning, then Utermark singled through the shift to drive him in and take the lead, 6-5.
Calhoun replaced Robertson in the eighth. Sorrell reached on an infield single and stole second. Calhoun got a ground ball for the first out of the inning. He induced another groundout, but the runner advanced to third.
After Calhoun hit a batter, he got a swinging strikeout to strand two runners on base and keep the one-run lead intact.
Hooks came into the game in the ninth to get the save and series win. He struck the first batter out, but Royo stayed hot with a single to left. Hooks induced a ground ball double play to end the game.
The Rebels took the series from the Aggies to stay in the hunt for a regional host.
What’s next?
Ole Miss will face UT Martin for its final home game of the regular season on Tuesday, May 12 before beginning a three-game series against Alabama on Thursday, May 14. SEC Network+ will broadcast the games.
