How Ole Miss Baseball Utilized the Long Ball to Avoid Elimination in Oxford Regional

The Ole Miss Rebels were faced with a win or go home matchup on Saturday afternoon against the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers after suffering a crushing loss to Murray State in Game 1 of the Oxford Regional on Friday.

With the Rebels' backs against the wall, the program turned to ace Hunter Elliott to get the job done on the mound, but the real heroes of the day came at the plate as the Rebels caught fire offensively.

Ole Miss put on a power display on Saturday afternoon as they launched out six home runs as a team all coming from three players recording a multi-home run day.

The Rebels started they day quick as Mitchell Sanford sent a ball into the student section as the first batter of the game with the Rebels playing as the away team.

Sanford was one of the three multi-home run artists on Saturday as he sent his second of the game out in the top of the sixth.

The second third of the multi-home run Rebels was Austin Fawley; who homered in the second and fourth inning.

Fawley's second inning home run was a historic one for Ole Miss history as it officially claimed the 2025 Ole Miss Rebels as the home run kings, posting more home runs than any other team in program history as they passed the 2022 National Championship squad.

Fawely and Sanford were joined by the third multi0home run member of the day as Judd Utermark sent two blasts of his own in the fifth and seventh innings.

Utermark's first home run of the day was the second time in a materr of 24 hours that he cleared the batters' eye for a monstrous home run.

The home runs totaled six of the Rebel's 8 runs on they day which pushed them past the Hilltopers by a score of 8-6 to keep their season alive and force another win or go home game on Sunday afternoon.

Ole Miss will take on Georgia Tech as both teams face elimination on Sunday at 2 p.m. CT at Swayze Field.