On a day when you could not have scripted a more picturesque day for college baseball at Swayze Field, the 6th-ranked Ole Miss Rebels would look to even the series with the 5th-ranked Tennessee after dropping game one on Friday night. As the first pitch neared at Swayze Field, the lines wrapped around the building to get in to watch the Rebels take on the Volunteers on Saturday afternoon, setting the scene for a wild afternoon of Southeastern Conference baseball.

After last night’s pitching duel, the Rebels would turn to Riley Maddox as the hero on Saturday as they looked to even the series with the Volunteers. Maddox gave the Rebels five complete innings, giving up three hits, two runs, and five strikeouts. Ryne Rodriguez would come in for a short relief stint after drilling Andrew Fischer, setting up for a two-run shot in the top half of the 6th inning from Dalton Bargo. Rodriguez would finish his day with .2 innings pitched, one hit, and two runs.

Tennessee would strike first in the top half of the first inning behind a solo shot from Gavin Kilen to make it an early 1-0 Volunteers advantage. Ole Miss would use the early Tennessee run to their liking as the Rebels put together a three-run bottom of the first inning behind timely hitting and extra-base hits to retake a 3-1 lead over the Volunteers. Tennessee would cut into the Ole Miss lead in the top half of the second off a solo shot from Levi Clark to make it 3-2 in advantage of Ole Miss. Austin Fawley would respond for Ole Miss with a solo shot in the bottom of the second to make it 4-2 Ole Miss. Ole Miss would add another run in the bottom of the 4th when Hayden Federico stole home to make it 5-2 Ole Miss before a solo shot from Luke Hill made it 6-2 Ole Miss. After a tense moment when the Rebels drilled their former teammate Andrew Fischer to set the stage for a two-run shot from Dalton Bargo to cut the Rebels lead to 6-4 in the top half of the 6th inning. Ole Miss responded with a two-run bottom of the 6th inning to extend the lead back to four runs by a margin of 8-4. With bases loaded in the top half of the 8th inning, Tennessee failed to plate any runs, and the Rebels took an 8-4 lead to the bottom of the 8th inning.

Like Friday night, Saturday lived up to all the anticipation and then some. The Rebels and Volunteers traded blows before Ole Miss came out on top to even the series, forcing a rubber match on Sunday. If the first two games were any evidence of how Sunday will go, this might be the third meeting. Still, there’s a legitimate chance we could them play in the postseason in either Hoover, a Super Regional, or even the College World Series.

Sunday’s pitching matchup will come down to Tegan Kuhns for Tennessee and Mason Nichols for Ole Miss.

Sunday’s rubber match will start at 2:00 with a national television audience on the SEC Network.

Photo Credits- Ole Miss Baseball on X