On a perfect Tuesday night for college baseball, the Ole Miss Rebels would welcome the Memphis Tigers to Swayze Field for a regional rivalry midweek matchup. With 162 games between the two, the rivalry itself might be a bit lopsided with Ole Miss holding a 104-57 advantage over the Tigers, but college baseball in this region is better when these two teams meet and play the games. Ole Miss took both games last season, with the latest coming in Oxford, where the Rebels escaped with a 7-5 over the Tigers. 

With it being a midweek game, Memphis and Ole Miss would turn to their normal Tuesday night starters: Issac Lucas for Memphis and Owen Kelly for Ole Miss. Lucas for Memphis would be the first to be pulled after 1.1 innings of work, giving up one hit, four runs, with five walks, and only three strikeouts. Owen Kelly gave Coach Bianco and the Rebels four complete innings, giving up only one run, three hits, one walk, and five strikeouts. 

Memphis would jump to an early 1-0 lead over Ole Miss in the top half of the first inning. That lead would be short-lived as the Rebels led Judd Utermark with a two-run shot in the bottom of the inning to take a 2-1 lead over the Tigers. Ole Miss would add two more in the bottom of the second to extend the lead to 4-1 over the Tigers, before a solo shot from Topher Jones to extend the Rebels’ lead to 5-1 in the bottom half of the third inning. Judd Utermark would continue to do what Judd Utermark does with another two-run shot to deep centerfield to extend the Ole Miss lead to 7-1 over the Tigers with no outs in the bottom of the 6th. 

Ole Miss had its get-right game on Tuesday night and now shifts the focus to North Alabama on Wednesday night, followed by a final weekend tune-up with Evansville, then a quick trip to Pete Taylor Park next Tuesday night to take on Southern Miss before opening SEC play on the road at Texas. Whatever happened in Texas is behind the Rebels now; focus this week and a half on getting ready for the grind of Southeastern Conference play. Tonight was a good win: the Rebels executed, the pitching had a good night, and the bats, led by Judd Utermark, were on fire, improving to 11-2 on the season. 

For Memphis, it’s the same old story from the weekend prior: the Tigers earned an early 1-0 lead but failed to carry the mometum with poor execution. Memphis will now hit the road for a three-game series with Missouri State starting on Friday. 

Photo Credits Memphis and Ole Miss baseball on X