Ole Miss Baseball Overcomes Weather Delay, Slow Offensive Start in Midweek Comeback win over North Alabama

OXFORD, Miss. — Ole Miss baseball came away with a gritty 8-5 win over the North Alabama Lions Wednesday night, despite needing a sixth-inning comeback as well as battling an hour-long rain delay.

Long night at Swayze, but the Rebels get the win over North Alabama! Ole Miss is now 12-2 this season. pic.twitter.com/j6PYTgWN1J

— The Rebel Walk (@TheRebelWalk) March 5, 2026

The Recap

The game started fast as Rebels starter Marko Sipila was greeted harshly in his first start with Ole Miss as North Alabama’s Dylan Coleman gave the Lions a 1-0 lead with a solo home run.

The game would stay 1-0 until the bottom of the third inning when Rebels’ outfielder Tristan Bissetta hit his seventh home run of the season into right field to knot the game even at one apiece.

However, the Lions’ first batter of the following half inning, Petey Craska, sent North Alabama’s second solo home run of the day out to reinstate their lead at 2-1.

Craska launched his home run off Owen Hancock, who had just entered the game following Sipila’s great outing where he exited with a final line of 3 innings pitched, 1 hit, 1 earned run, 7 strikeouts, and 0 free passes.

The bats stayed quiet until the sixth, when the Lions extended their lead with a long sixth inning.

A throwing error and a walk concluded Hancock’s relief appearance, and JP Robertson entered the game for Ole Miss. Robertson quickly recorded a strikeout and a hit by pitch to lead the bases with just one man down, before a bloop single from Will Millard, and a fielder’s choice from Justin Santoyo gave the Lions a 4-1 lead over the Rebels in the top of the sixth.

Ole Miss, however, did not go quietly this time as they put together an extensive inning at the plate, themselves.

Dom Decker led off the frame with a walk, and just two batters later Utermark collected the Rebels’ first hit since the third inning when he rolled a ball off the third base bag for a double.

Will Furniss then got Ole Miss back on the board with a fly ball that found its way into no-man’s-land in left for an RBI single, before Collin Reuter slapped a two-RBI single into left field to knot the game even after a ten-pitch at-bat.

However, in the midst of the Rebels’ big comeback inning, a lightning and weather delay forced both teams and fans into cover as a passing storm came through.

Play resumed in the sixth inning just over an hour later at 9:45 P.M. CT with Austin Fawley at the plate and runners on first and third with just one out. After a strikeout from Fawley, Brayden Randle delivered a big RBI single, knocking in Reuter and giving Ole Miss its first lead of the game.

Quickly after, Cannon Goldin reached on a slow infield chopper which grazed the glove of the second baseman for a bobble, getting a run across; however, the inning ended as Randle was caught too far off third base and was chased down for the final out. Ole Miss held a 6-4 lead after six complete.

The Lions were far from done, however, as they scraped across a run in the following half inning off the bat of Alex Wade, who roped a line drive towards center, where Brett Moseley tripped en route to the ball, allowing the runner on first to go all the way home and leaving a runner on second with no outs.

Walker Hooks, who started the 7th for Ole Miss, rebounded that earned run with three consecutive strikeouts to escape the inning with a 6-5 lead headed into the seventh inning stretch.

Ole Miss tacked on some insurance runs in the bottom half of the seventh as Will Furniss slapped an RBI single into the opposite field, which scored Decker, and quickly after, the bases were loaded for pinch-hitter Hayden Federico.

Federico hit an infield pop up, but the ball dropped between the first and second basemen, allowing Bissetta to race home and score Ole Miss another insurance run as the Rebels led 8-5 heading into the eighth inning.

Neither side was able to produce a run in the eighth despite the Lions producing a pair of runners, which sent the game to the ninth inning, with Ole Miss still ahead, 8-5.

Landon Koenig entered the game in the eighth for the Rebels and came back out in the ninth to attempt to complete a five-out save.

Koenig struck out the first two batters before giving up a double. However, the Rebels’ pitcher came right back and recorded his fourth and final strikeout of the evening to conclude his outing.

JP Robertson earned the win and is 2-0 on the season. Koenig picked up the save, his second of the year.

A Look Ahead

Ole Miss returns to Swayze Field Friday evening to host the Evansville Purple Aces in the Rebels’ final non-conference weekend series of the season.

Friday’s first pitch is currently set for 6:30 P.M CT, although that could change given the weather forecast. Stay tuned to The Rebel Walk for all your Ole Miss baseball news.