Fresh off a victory over UT Martin on Tuesday night, the Ole Miss Rebels would welcome the second-ranked Auburn Tigers to Swayze Field for a massive three-game series.

With postseason implications on the line, if Ole Miss wanted a shot to host an Oxford Regional, a series win over Auburn would be crucial for that to happen. However, the Auburn Tigers came to Oxford red hot and smoking, having risen to the number two ranking in the D1Baseball poll, with many people talking about the Tigers being a legitimate contender to reach Omaha and win the national championship. For Ole Miss, the Rebels came into the weekend looking to heal the wounds of losing two of three last weekend in Starkville to Mississippi State as their hosting chances hung up by a thread.

Needing a game-one victory, Ole Miss rolled Hunter Elliott out to be the starter on Thursday night against sixth-ranked Auburn. Elliott finished his night by giving the Rebels seven complete innings of scoreless baseball, striking out eight Auburn batters on Thursday night.

Scoreless through four complete innings, Ole Miss scored two in the 5th to take a 2-0 lead over the Tigers. From the two scored in the 5th, Ole Miss would add two in the 6th and five in the 7th inning to make it 9-0 Rebels. Auburn would add two runs in the 9th to make it more respectful, but Thursday night was for the Ole Miss Rebels as Coach Bianco and his team picked up a massive statement game win over Auburn.

Everything that could go right for Ole Miss went right on Thursday night, as the Rebels picked up a monster game one 9-2 win over Auburn. If Ole Miss can steal another one on Friday night, then the conversation will likely shift to Ole Miss backdooring into hosting a Swayze Regional or being the two-seed nobody wants to see.

Ole Miss will go for the series on Friday night at 7:00 on the SEC Network.