Ole Miss Hits Six Home Runs, Beats Western Kentucky 8-6 to Stay Alive in Oxford Regional

OXFORD, Miss. — With their backs against the wall, Ole Miss leaned on power and poise as the Rebels belted six home runs and survived a late rally to beat Western Kentucky 8-6 to advance in the Oxford Regional.

See y’all Sunday 🫡#HottyToddy pic.twitter.com/zPVHmpev0o

— Ole Miss Baseball (@OleMissBSB) May 31, 2025

“Another great baseball game; just proud of our guys for hanging in there. We said it last night, this time of year everybody is good and you have to play well and we played better today. I don’t know if we have another guy that can get through what Elliott got through today. With all the pressure, we give them two runs in the first and he was just lights out. He hung in there like aces do, never wavered — obviously Mitch (Sanford) and the other hitters really swung it well on a day that the ball was really getting out.”

~ Bianco on the win and the performances from his players

Game Recap

Despite playing at Swayze Field and being in the home dugout, the Rebels were the away team in game three of the Oxford Regional. Lefty Hunter Elliott started for Ole Miss after not getting his usual Friday start for the Rebels. The southpaw pitched six innings, finishing with 115 pitches, allowed eight hits, one earned run, issued three walks, a punched out seven. Elliot was credited with his 10th win of the season (10-3).

Judd Utermark led the Rebels at the plate with a pair of home runs, racking up his 18th and 19th round trippers of the season on a 3-for-5 day at the plate. Ole Miss hit six home runs in the win, breaking the single-season program record as a team (113).

Mitchell Sanford led off the game with a solo blast into the student section for his 16th home run of the season to give Ole Miss a quick lead. Luke Hill then immediately followed it up with a single into right field, eventually finding his way to third thanks to a wild pitch and a ground out.

Starting things off with a bang 💥

📺 ESPN+@Mitchell__4 x #HottyToddy pic.twitter.com/vqck6k9IM8

— Ole Miss Baseball (@OleMissBSB) May 31, 2025

Following the win, Sanford commented on the Rebels scoring six of their eight runs via home runs.

“It’s more fun to see, we know Coach B likes it. We have scored in all types of ways this year, a lot of it has come from the long ball, but is just how our offense is built. I thought we did a really good job today with not just our plan but our attack against their pitchers today. If that comes with a couple of long balls then that is just fine.”

~ Sanford on the performance at the plate for Ole Miss in the win

Isaac Humphrey blooped a single over the top of the infield to score Hill on a ball misplayed by the Western Kentucky left fielder, and just like that the Rebels were up 2-0 after the first half inning.

The Hilltoppers came right back at the Rebels in the bottom of the first and tied the game at 2-2. A leadoff double for Carlos Vasquez eventually led to the first run of the day for Western Kentucky after a pair of errors committed by the Rebels kept the inning alive. With a runner on third and two outs, Kyle Hayes ripped one through the right side for a RBI-single to plate the second run.

Austin Fawley hit his first home run of the day in the top of the second, a solo shot to straight-away center that gave Ole Miss a 3-2 lead. The Rebels did not score another run in the frame and Western Kentucky starter Jack Bennett was replaced by Dawson Hall who was credited with the loss.

Austin Fawley hits our 109th home run of the year, setting a new single-season program record! 💪

📺 ESPN+@fawley_austin x #HottyToddy pic.twitter.com/ZqdBBzLwgL

— Ole Miss Baseball (@OleMissBSB) May 31, 2025

Elliott gave up another leadoff double in the bottom half of the second to Austin Haller, and once again, the double led to the Hilltoppers plating a run. Vasquez drove Haller in with a two-out double of his own, tying the game at 3-3 through three played.

The Rebels began to pull away from the Hilltoppers in the top of the fourth after Fawley sent his second home run of the game over the centerfield wall once again. Luke Cheng reached on an error to follow the home run, and Hill picked up his second RBI-single of the weekend to make it a 5-3 Ole Miss lead.

Multi-HR game for @fawley_austin!

📺 ESPN+ pic.twitter.com/M50KuVqrQO

— Ole Miss Baseball (@OleMissBSB) May 31, 2025

Elliott sat Western Kentucky down in order in the bottom of the fourth; the starter pitched four-consecutive scoreless innings before Taylor Rabe took over in the bottom of the seventh. The southpaw became just the fourth Ole Miss pitcher to have 10 wins and 100 strikeouts in a season. After the game, Elliott talked about what it meant to pitch in a playoff game at Swayze.

 

“It was special. As a kid, I grew up coming to postseason games in Oxford. Getting to experience it was truly special. The environment was really good today, the fans showed up and we are going to need them for the rest of the weekend.”

~ Elliott on pitching in a regional at Swayze

💯 Strikeouts for @elliotthunter10 this season!

Hunter becomes the fourth Rebel in program history to have 2️⃣ 100 K seasons!

📺 ESPN+@NCAABaseball x #HottyToddy pic.twitter.com/stohKB5GmW

— Ole Miss Baseball (@OleMissBSB) May 31, 2025

Ole Miss hit three more solo home runs over the over the course of the next three frames. Judd Utermark was responsible for two of those, blasting his first over the batter’s eye in the top of the fifth to give the Rebels a 6-3 lead. Sanford then launched his second home run of the game in the top of the sixth, and Utermark hit his second in the top of the seventh to make it a 8-3 Ole Miss lead and become the third Ole Miss player of the game to hit a pair of homers.

Judd clears the batter’s eye for the SECOND TIME this weekend 👀

📺 ESPN+@JuddUtermark x #HottyToddy pic.twitter.com/YkqLe8jFLI

— Ole Miss Baseball (@OleMissBSB) May 31, 2025

.@Mitchell__4 hits his second homer of the game!

📺 ESPN+ pic.twitter.com/PH1L6f4U3b

— Ole Miss Baseball (@OleMissBSB) May 31, 2025

.@JuddUtermark hits ANOTHER ONE!

He’s one of 3️⃣ Rebs with a multi-homer day!

📺 ESPN+ pic.twitter.com/5FAfnek9EB

— Ole Miss Baseball (@OleMissBSB) May 31, 2025

Hayes ripped a solo shot into the right field seats in the bottom half of the frame off of Rabe to break the scoring drought for the Hilltoppers. However, the redshirt freshman stayed calm and ended the frame to keep the Rebels in front by four runs.

After the game, Bianco claimed he thought Rabe was terrific in his response after giving up the home run.

“We wanted to go to him (Rabe), one because he is a strike thrower, he’s going to fill up the strike zone. Number two, the look is so much different. Not just from right to left but you’re going from a riding fastball, low change-up guy to a 6-foot-6 guy that is a sinker baller that throws the ball in the mid to low nineties with a breaking ball and a change-up — the biggest is he showed that he is going to throw the ball in the strike zone even in the biggest moments.”

~ Bianco on Taylor Rabe’s performance

The Ole Miss bats finally cooled down as the game came to a close, but not before Western Kentucky made things interesting in the bottom of the ninth. Rebel closer Connor Spencer took over for Rabe and punched out the lead off man in the frame. After that, Spencer gave up a single and a double that put runners on second and third for the Hilltoppers with just one out.

Hayes picked up his third RBI of the day with a single through the left side that cut the Ole Miss lead to three. The third error of the game committed by the Rebel defense then made it an 8-6 game before Spencer finally closed out the win to help the Rebels avoid elimination.

Up next

The Rebels will be back at Swayze on Sunday, June 1, as they play in another elimination game against the loser of Murray State and Georgia Tech. First pitch of that game is scheduled for 2 p.m. CT, and the winner will have to play again at 5 p.m. for a chance to play on Monday, June 2.