Ole Miss and Auburn got things going on Friday night as the Rebels and Tigers were the first two Southeastern Conference teams to start the Super Regional round with game one on Friday night. Coming into the matchup, the expectation was a heavyweight battle between two elite baseball teams with almost zero room for mistakes. The two-out-of-three series had all the potential to provide heart-stopping baseball as these two teams need wins to make a triumphant return to the College World Series. 

To get to the Super Regional, the Rebels ran through the Lincoln Regional, going undefeated with wins over Arizona State and Nebraska to reach the Auburn Super Regional. For Auburn, the road to the Super Regional was bumpy, as it had to come out of the losers’ bracket to reach this weekend. 

With it being a traditional Friday night in the weekend rotation, both Ole Miss and Auburn would go with their Friday night starters in game one of the Super Regional. For Ole Miss, it would be the Hunter Elliott night, while Auburn went with Alvarez Andreas on the mound. Elliott would be the first to go on Friday as he delivered Ole Miss with 4.1 innings, giving up six hits, two runs, four walks, and only two strikeouts. Not his best stuff, but luckily for Elliott, his defense backed him up when Auburn was threatening to blow the game open. Hudson Calhoun would come in during the bottom of the 5th to pitch for the Rebels. Alvarez Andreas would go a bit longer, pitching 5.2 innings, giving up seven hits and five runs, while walking one and striking out 10. LJ Cormier would be his replacement in the top half of the 6th inning. Ole Miss would turn to Walker Hooks in the bottom of the 8th to try and navigate the final six outs to move Ole Miss within one game of making a return to the College World Series. Hudson Calhoun finished his day after 2.2 innings, giving up 2 hits, 1 run, 1 walk, and 3 strikeouts. Despite giving up a solo shot to Mason McCraine in the bottom of the 9th, Walker Hooks would slam the door shut by retiring the side and giving the Rebels a 6-4 victory over Auburn. 

Ole Miss came into the weekend series with Auburn as one of the national leaders in home runs and would look to carry that mometum into the Super Regional. 

Ole Miss jumped on Auburn first in the top half of the second inning with a base hit from Brayden Randle that scored Hayden Federico. Auburn would tie the game at one with a sac fly in the bottom of the third inning. Brayden Randle would once again score a run in the top of the 4th that scored Austin Fawley to take a 2-1 lead over the Tigers. Judd Utermark would extend the Ole Miss lead in the top half of the 5th inning with a two-run shot out of the park over the left field monster at Plainsman Parker. Auburn would add a run in the bottom of the fifth inning with a base hit from Chris Rembert that scored Mason McCraine. Ole Miss would add two more to the scoreboard in the top half of the 6th inning with a two-run shot from Collin Reuter that scored Brayden Randle to extend the lead to 6-2. Auburn would respond with a double from Mason McCraine that scored Bristol Carter to cut the Ole Miss lead to 6-3. Mason McCraine would add a leadoff solo shot in the bottom of the 9th to right field to bring the Tigers within two runs as Ole Miss held on to a 6-4 lead over the Tigers. 

Although the pitching did just enough to get the job done, it was the Ole Miss defense that won the game for the Rebels on Friday night, bailing out both Hunter Elliott and Hudson Calhoun and giving the offense less stress so they could just go out and play Rebels baseball. On top of that, the bats of Auburn just couldn’t do anything in the clutch tonight; the Tigers had plenty of chances but couldn’t get it done. Walker Hooks came in and dominated, and the Rebels are now one win away from reaching the College World Series for the first time since winning it all in 2022. Truly a remarkable performance for the Rebels on Friday night as they took all the mometum from Auburn, and now the Rebels will be the home team at Plainsman Park on Saturday afternoon. Taylor Rabe will be the starter for the Rebels on Saturday afternoon. 

Game two of the Auburn Super Regional will get underway on Saturday afternoon at 4:00 P:M, with television coverage on ESPN. Depending on what happens in the games prior with the potential deciders in Morgantown between Cal Poly and West Virginia, and down in Troy with Little Rock and the Troy Trojans, theRebels could very well be the third team to punch their ticket to the 2026 College World Series.