Fresh off an 11-9 win over Georgia Tech to advance to the Oxford Regional Championship, the Ole Miss Rebels would face a familiar foe in the Racers of Murray State. Ole Miss needed to win tonight to force a winner-take-all game seven on Monday afternoon after dropping the first game of the Regional on Friday.

With the pitching staff running on fumes, Coach Bianco decided to go with Gunnar Dennis as the starter on Sunday night. Dennis did what Coach Bianco asked of him, pitching four complete innings, giving up eight hits and six runs while striking out five Murray State batters. From Dennis, Coach Bianco turned to Ryne Rodriguez to guide the Rebels, who held a significant lead over Murray State. Rodriguez finished his night with two outs in the bottom of the 8th inning, having given up four hits and only one run while striking out four, giving Coach Bianco and the Rebels a solid stretch of relief pitching. Landon Waters would get the task of getting the final four outs for Ole Miss to secure another victory on Sunday.

Even more so than the Georgia Tech game earlier on Sunday, the Rebels used an explosive offense to dominate Murray State on Sunday night. Ole Miss had four guys with home runs on Sunday night in the win over Murray State. Will Furniss had two, Judd Utermark had one, Issac Humphrey had one, and Austin Fawley had one as well for an overpowering barrage of offensive firepower.

Ole Miss did what it had to do on Sunday, winning two games and forcing a deciding game three with the Racers on Monday. Pitching might be an issue for the Rebels, but Monday has the potential to be more of what we saw tonight at Swayze Field. There’s also the reality that a Murray State team might not have enough in the tank to overcome the barrage of Ole Miss runs. There’s also something else to keep in mind: the guys you might not see on a regular rotation for Ole Miss out of the pen would likely be weekend starters for the Racers; it is not a knock against Murray State, but there’s a proven fact that the upper half of the Southeastern Conference has more pitching than most of the country.

Looking ahead to Monday, Ole Miss will need to get Murray State early and pour on them as they did on Sunday. Unlike Friday night, Coach Bianco and his staff have now played the Racers three times this season and know what to expect from their lineups. As far as pitching goes for the Racers, we’re not entirely sure what Murray State will throw out there on Monday, but it’s likely a situation similar to Ole Miss, where we might see multiple dudes getting playing time to get to the finish line.

For those planning to go out to Swayze on Monday, once the other games go final on Sunday night, a game time will be announced.

Photo Credits- Ole Miss Baseball on X