Ole Miss Baseball Uses Late-Inning Heroics to Walk Off Murray State 8-7

For the second year in a row, the Ole Miss Rebels and Murray State Racers went to extra innings at Swayze Field in Oxford, but this time, it was the No. 17 Rebels who came out on top 8-7 thanks to some late-inning heroics.

Ole Miss (11-1) led Murray State for most of the game on Wednesday and carried a 4-1 advantage into the seventh inning. It was then, however, that the wheels fell off for the Rebels on the mound and defensively after pitcher Cade Townsend walked the bases loaded, and six runs eventually came home to score, including one that scored on a fielding error from third baseman Judd Utermark.

That put Ole Miss behind 7-4 in the late innings, but the Rebels began chipping away. The eighth inning saw Utermark hit a solo home run (his second of the day), and with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, Ole Miss was able to push across two runs on a single from Will Furniss to tie the game at seven.

Pitcher Walker Hooks allowed a couple of baserunners for Murray State in the 10th inning, but he was able to work around the traffic and now allow any damage. In the bottom half, a Rebels double from Brayden Randle followed by a single from shortstop Owen Paino put runners at the corners for Ole Miss for freshman Hayden Federico who laced a single into right field to secure the win.

On the mound, Ole Miss utilized a total of nine arms on Wednesday, including starting pitcher Taylor Rabe who made his collegiate debut with two innings of scoreless, two-hit ball. Hooks was credited with the win after throwing one inning and working around two walks.

The Rebels have now won 10 straight games dating back to their opening weekend in Arlington, and they will carry that streak into this weekend's home series against the Jacksonville State Gamecocks. First pitch on Friday in the series opener is set for 6:30 p.m. CT on SEC Network+.

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