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Ole Miss Outlasts Georgia Tech, Blasts Murray State in Doubleheader to Set Up Regional Final

Posted by | Jun 2, 2025 |

Ole Miss Outlasts Georgia Tech, Blasts Murray State in Doubleheader to Set Up Regional Final

OXFORD, Miss. — With their season on the line, Ole Miss put together two high-octane wins to knock off Georgia Tech and Murray State to set up another matchup against the Racers in the Oxford Regional final.

The Rebels blasted eight home runs in the two wins, plated 30 runs and racked up 33 hits over the course of a long day at Swayze Field.

“Just proud of our guys, a long day, 18 innings — didn’t seem like we had a lot of lulls, didn’t seem like we slept through any innings on both sides of the ball. I thought we were really good. To get some length out of Gunnar Dennis, I thought was huge because we were really limited in this second game (against Murray State) with available arms. For Ryne Rodriguez to come in for three and two thirds, I thought was lights out. You need that, you need that to come through the loser’s bracket; but obviously it was an offensive day — Excited that we get to play again, another opportunity tomorrow night.”

~ Bianco in his opening statement after the doubleheader

Ole Miss vs. Georgia Tech

Coming off of an impressive outing against LSU in the SEC Tournament semifinals, freshman Cade Townsend got the nod for the Rebels in the elimination game against the Yellow Jackets. Townsend made it through just one inning before being replaced by Hudson Calhoun in the top of the second after putting a pair of runners on base.

Townsend walked Drew Burress to lead off the game despite getting ahead with an 0-2 count, and Kent Schmidt followed that with a two-run shot into the Ole Miss bullpen to give Georgia Tech a quick lead. The freshman then gave up a second homer to Kyle Lodise in the next at-bat, putting the Yellow Jackets ahead 3-0 before the Rebels made a trip to the plate.

Ole Miss got all of those runs back plus two more in the bottom half of the first, taking a 5-3 lead after a 50-minute first inning. Mitchell Sanford doubled to leadoff the frame and later advanced to third before scoring on a single off the bat of Luke Hill.

Georgia Tech starter Jaylen Paden issued a walk to Will Furniss in the next at-bat before recording the first out only to give up a three-run bomb to Isaac Humphrey. The 12th home run of the year for the Rebel centerfield gave Ole Miss a one-run lead. After a single and a double given up by Paden to follow that, Austin Fawley blooped a single into center to plate the fifth run of the frame.

After replacing Townsend in the top of the second, Calhoun did issue a walk to load the bases but the sophomore stranded the bases loaded to post a scoreless frame. Humphrey picked up his fourth RBI of the day in the bottom of second with a sacrifice fly into left field, giving the Rebels a 6-3 lead after two played.

Calhoun gave up five runs over the next two frames, giving the Yellow Jackets an 8-6 lead in the top of the fourth. It was Carson Kerce with a RBI double in the top of the third to make it a two run game; and back-to-back homers for Burress and Schmidt added another pair of runs. Later in the top of the fourth after Alex Canney replaced Calhoun; Carson Daniel doubled down the first base line to break the tie and give Georgia Tech their second lead of the game.

Counting the sacrifice fly from Humphrey, Ballard retired nine-straight batters in the Ole Miss lineup before giving up a solo home run to Judd Utermark to leadoff the bottom of the fifth. The blast over the centerfield wall was the 20th homer of the season for the second baseman and cut the Ole Miss deficit to one run.

Later in the bottom of the fourth, Sanford drew a two-out walk with the bases loaded to tie the game at 8-8 through five innings played. The Rebel offense finally got to Ballard in the inning, forcing the Yellow Jackets to turn to Riley Stanford out of the bullpen.

Canney posted the first 1-2-3 inning for the Ole Miss pitching staff in the top of the fifth and was then replaced by senior Mason Nichols at the start of the sixth. Nichols sat down the first two batters he faced on strikes before giving up back-to-back singles that gave Georgia Tech a 9-8 lead. However, freshman Hayden Federico tied it right back up in the bottom half of the inning with a two-out RBI single through the teeth of the shift.

The Rebels plated two more runs to take an 11-9 lead over the Yellow Jackets; the first one coming via a single off the bat of Funriss that broke the 9-9 tie in the bottom of the seventh. In the bottom of the eighth, Campbell Smithwick launched a solo shot over the right field wall to add the second run.

Junior Will McCausland made his second appearance of the weekend replacing Nichols in the top of the seventh with a pair of runners on and one out. The righty punched out the next two batters to strand the runners and retired five-straight Georgia Tech batters before handing the ball to closer Connor Spencer with one out in the top of the ninth.

Despite loading the bases, Spencer recorded the next two outs and picked up his eighth save of the year as Ole Miss survived to reach the first game of the Oxford Regional final. McCausland was credited with the win (3-1). Federico led the Rebels at the plate with a 3-for-4 performance, a pair of doubles and perhaps the most important RBI of the game.

Ole Miss vs. Murray State 

After nearly a five hour game between the Rebels and the Yellow Jackets, Ole Miss and Murray State geared up for game one of the Oxford Regional final to end the night at Swayze. Southpaw Gunnar Dennis got the start for the Rebels and gave up a one-run lead in the bottom of the first after Luke Mistone singled into right with two outs. Dennis pitched four innings, gave up eight hits, six runs, walked two and punched out five.

The Rebels immediately answered in the top of the second thanks to a two-run blast over the centerfield wall from Fawley. The homer was the 20th of the year for the sophomore catcher, making him and Utermark the first single-season 20 home run duo in program history.

In the bottom of the second, Dennis gave the Racers a 3-2 lead with Johnathan Hogart launching a two-run shot over the left field wall; but everything changed once the third inning began.

The Ole Miss offense put up eight runs in the frame, six of which came with two outs. Hill was hit by a pitch and left the game for concussion protocol before later returning. Furniss then launched his first homer of the game and the tournament, a two-run shot that sneaked over the left field wall into the Murray State bullpen.

Later in the frame, Fawley was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded and two outs to plate a run. Starting at shortstop for the first time in the regional, Brayden Randle singled on the infield to plate another run and left the bases loaded for the top of the order. Sanford followed it with a single into centerfield, but an error on the throw back in put the Rebel outfielder at second and cleared the bases. Sanford later scored all the way from second on wild pitch to make it a 10-3 Ole Miss lead after two and half played.

Despite the top of the third ending, Ole Miss was not done scoring yet. The Rebels piled on another five runs in the top of the fourth but the Racers did score three of their own in the bottom half of both of those innings. Will Vierling tripled off the centerfield wall in the third to plate a run, and Mercer doubled again to score two more for the Racers in the fourth.

The five runs scored in the top of the fourth began with Furniss leading off the frame with a solo shot over the centerfield wall, his second home run of the night and 12th of the season. The Rebels proceeded to homer on back-to-back-to-back pitches as Utermark and Humphrey followed with monstrous blasts of their own that got the Swayze crowd rocking. Ole Miss plated the final two runs in the frame via a wild pitch and a RBI groundout off the bat of Sanford.

After going up 15-6, the Ole Miss offense slowed down a bit and only plated four more runs for the remainder of the game. Federico plated Utermark with a sacrifice fly in the top of the fifth to make it a 16-6 Rebel lead. Back-to-back singles for Sanford and Hill then allowed Furniss to collect his fourth RBI of the game with a single up the middle. Humphrey followed it with a drive into the right-centerfield gap, scoring Hill to make it an 18-6 Ole Miss lead heading into the bottom of the sixth.

Freshman Owen Paino drove in the final run of the night for Ole Miss with a RBI single through the six-hole in the top of the ninth to make it a 19-7 lead for the Rebels. Paino pinch hit for Hill and took over at second base in the bottom of the ninth with Utermark moving over to third base.

Junior lefty Ryne Rodriguez replaced Dennis to begin the bottom of the fifth. The southpaw pitched 3.2 innings, gave up one run, four hits, walked one and punched out four. The one run off of Rodriguez came in the bottom of the seventh; Nico Bermeo doubled down the third base line to drive in the seventh run of the game for the Racers.

Junior college transfer Landon Waters took over for Rodriguez in the bottom of the eighth with two outs and finished off the game for the Rebels. The righty did give up one more run to the Murray State offense in the bottom of the ninth with Conner Cunningham doubling to left-center for a RBI, making it a 19-8 finish in Oxford.

Rodriguez was credited with the win (1-1), and Furniss led the Ole Miss offense going 4-for-6 at the plate, blasting two homers and racking up four RBI. The junior first baseman collected six hits and five RBI over the course of the doubleheader.

Up next

The Rebels and Racers will meet Monday, June 2, in the deciding game of the Oxford Regional final, with a spot in the NCAA baseball tournament Super Regional against the Duke Blue Devils on the line. First pitch between Ole Miss and Murray State is scheduled for 5 p.m. CT with the television slot still to be determined.
Kameron Wicker

Kam is a senior at Ole Miss, currently pursuing a degree in Journalism. Even though he's from Delhi, Louisiana, that didn't stop Kam from growing up a diehard Ole Miss fan. He's a sports guru who watches and follows all sports at all times. He lettered four years in football and baseball in high school and is an avid Saints, Pelicans, and Astros fan. In his free time, you can find him watching sports or at the rec participating in them.

About The Author

Kameron Wicker

Kam is a senior at Ole Miss, currently pursuing a degree in Journalism. Even though he's from Delhi, Louisiana, that didn't stop Kam from growing up a diehard Ole Miss fan. He's a sports guru who watches and follows all sports at all times. He lettered four years in football and baseball in high school and is an avid Saints, Pelicans, and Astros fan. In his free time, you can find him watching sports or at the rec participating in them.

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