Late-Inning Heroics and Dominant Pitching Lead No. 25 Ole Miss Past No. 24 LSU in Series Opener
OXFORD, Miss. — With lights-out pitching and late, clutch at-bats, the No. 25 Ole Miss baseball team took away a 6-3 win to open the series against the No. 24 LSU Tigers on Friday night in Oxford.
Ole Miss takes game 1 over LSU at Swayze, 6-3! #HottyToddy pic.twitter.com/zBeKBRpebf
— The Rebel Walk (@TheRebelWalk) April 11, 2026
The atmosphere inside Swayze was tense, but the loudest moment of the night came in the eighth inning, when Hayden Federico crushed a near-home run for a go-ahead RBI single, with a pair of additional insurance runs following him.
The night, however, was also led by the pitchers. Rebels’ starter Hunter Elliott finished the night with 6 innings pitched, 8 hits, 2 earned runs, 1 walk, 8 strikeouts, and 99 pitches, working around jams throughout his outing.
7⃣ K’s for Elliott pic.twitter.com/Sk6QAozmL2
— Ole Miss Baseball (@OleMissBSB) April 11, 2026
The Tigers’ starter, Casan Evans, was great as well, turning in 6 innings pitched, 5 hits, 3 earned runs, 2 walks, 9 strikeouts, and 107 pitches on the night.
LSU’s staff also held the Rebels hitless after a leadoff home run in the second, all the way until a leadoff single in the eighth.
The Tigers opened the game with a bang, drawing a leadoff walk that was followed by Jake Brown hit a towering two-run homer into the student section, giving LSU an early 2-0 lead.
Ole Miss, however, responded with a two-run inning of its own in the bottom of the frame with back-to-back singles, along with another single with one out from Will Furniss that scored Dom Decker. Tristan Bissetta scored on a ball that booted away from the catcher.
Bissetta scores on the dropped ball, tie ballgame💪 pic.twitter.com/QQeXwvMePe
— Ole Miss Baseball (@OleMissBSB) April 11, 2026
The Rebels looked to take the lead in the first, loading the bases with one out, but back-to-back strikeouts ended the frame, ending it at 2-2.
Elliott turned around in the second inning, needing just eleven pitches for a 1-2-3 inning. In the bottom of the frame, designated hitter Owen Paino helped out Elliott, sending a 3-2 pitch over the right field wall for a leadoff home run, his first of the season, that made it 3-2 Ole Miss.
OK @OwenPaino!!! 💣 pic.twitter.com/gXXQ8VMJmd
— Ole Miss Baseball (@OleMissBSB) April 11, 2026
After giving up two runs in the first, Elliott bounced back and pitched five scoreless innings in a row. Consider centerfielder Hayden Federico impressed with the Friday-night starter.
“His damage control is is the best I’ve ever seen in all my years of watching baseball. He had some unfortunate luck, whether it was a hit falling or an error and something like that. It’s like he almost pitches better when bad things happen and it’s incredible. He’s the best pitcher I’ve ever played behind. Hands down.”
Hayden Federico on Hunter Elliott
Elliott threw 99 pitches on the day, going through the sixth inning with a one-run lead.
“I really love my teammates. I really want to pick them up. I really don’t want losses to be on them,” Elliott said after the game.
“Maybe that has something to do with it. But man, I think more than anything (Ole Miss pitching coach) Joel (Mangrum) has just kind of beat into our head that bad things are going to happen. There’s not a single baseball player this year that bad stuff’s not going to happen to. The only way to overcome it and be great from it is to move faster. I feel like I move past stuff really quick.”
Hunter Elliott on overcoming adversity
Pitching took over for the majority of the game following Paino’s home run, as neither side crossed the plate until the seventh inning. During the seventh, the Tigers tied the game on a sacrifice fly from Derek Curicel — which came on the tail end of an error that, had the play been made, would have made the fly out the final out of the inning.
Ole Miss entered the eighth inning all knotted up at 3-3, but the Rebels loaded the bases with no outs following two errors from the Tigers’ middle infield. Federico took advantage, nearly leaving the yard, but landing it just in fair territory for what would be a single with runners set to tag up.
.@haydenfederico3 Drives in 1😤 pic.twitter.com/V5iD6P1K5f
— Ole Miss Baseball (@OleMissBSB) April 11, 2026
Ole Miss then added on two more runs from Brett Moseley and Brayden Randle; Moseley dropped down a safety squeeze bunt, but everyone was safe as the ball went past the third baseman.
Another run on the Moseley squeeze!! pic.twitter.com/PyElYkhWVF
— Ole Miss Baseball (@OleMissBSB) April 11, 2026
Randle flew a ball into left for a sacrifice fly to give Ole Miss a 6-3 lead headed to the ninth.
SAC fly for @BraydenRandle
Swayze 🔥 rn. LSU swapping pitchers. pic.twitter.com/tre17sukKB
— Ole Miss Baseball (@OleMissBSB) April 11, 2026
Walker Hooks went back to the mound in the ninth for his third inning of relief and recorded two infield pop-ups to start the frame. He then struck out the LSU batter to secure the series-opening victory.
Ballgame👏
Hooks closes it out💪 pic.twitter.com/nd8FhrB4bX
— Ole Miss Baseball (@OleMissBSB) April 11, 2026
A Look Ahead
Ole Miss and LSU will return to the diamond for two more games of this heated rivalry, with the first coming tomorrow at 4 P.M. CT, and the series finale set for 1:30 P.M. CT on Sunday.
Billy Kuhl
Billy Kuhl joins The Rebel Walk as a sophomore at Ole Miss majoring in Journalism with a Sports Media concentration. He is from Jefferson Township, New Jersey and graduated from Jefferson Township High School where he played varsity baseball, and soccer, and swam competitively in his summers. You can contact him at wpkuhl88@gmail.com or DM him on X @Billykuhll or instagram @Billykuhll_
