Ole Miss takes Western Kentucky out; moves on to play Sunday
Published 8:22 pm Saturday, May 31, 2025
By Jeff Roberson
Ole Miss Sports
Ole Miss and Western Kentucky met in an elimination game Saturday afternoon in the 2025 Oxford Regional, and it was the Rebels who came out on top 8-6.
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But it wasn’t easy. There were two runners in scoring position and the winning run at the plate for the home team in this one, WKU, when the game ended.
Ole Miss is 41-20 and moves on to play at 2 p.m. Sunday against the loser of Georgia Tech and Murray State, both 1-0 in the Regional.
Western Kentucky ends its season with an impressive 46-14 record.
Hunter Elliott started for Ole Miss and the veteran left-hander was effective in leading the Rebels. Through six complete, the Tupelo red-shirt junior allowed just one earned run on eight hits with seven strikeouts and three walks. He threw 115 pitches, the most he’s thrown in a collegiate contest.
Elliott now has 101 strikeouts this season. He’s one of four Rebels to have two 100 strikeout seasons in their careers, along with Mark Holliman, Lance Lynn, Drew Pomeranz.
Ole Miss, the visiting team, got on the scoreboard quickly with a leadoff home run by Mitchell Sanford to right in the top of the first. A base hit by Isaac Humphrey scored Luke Hill who had singled. Before WKU came up to bat, the Rebels led 2-0.
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In the bottom of the first, the Hilltoppers answered with two runs of their own. A leadoff double by Carlos Vasquez, then Kyle Hvidsten reached on an error and Vasques moved to third.
Ryan Wideman struck out. Ethan Lizama reached on an error that scored Vasquez. Kyle Hayes singled to score Lizama. It was 2-2 after one.
Each team got a run in the second. The Rebels got another leadoff home run in the inning. Austin Fawley sent one over the center field fence for a 3-2 UM lead.
After Austin Haller doubled to start the Topper second. Vasquez doubled to score Haller. The game was tied 3-3 through two innings.
Fawley sent his second ball out of the park with one out in the fourth inning. Hill singled to score Luke Cheng who had reached on an error. The Rebels led 5-3.
After WKU failed to score in the bottom of the fifth and sixth, Ole Miss added a run in each inning. Judd Utermark homered to start the fifth. Sanford hit his second homer of the game in the sixth with two outs. The Rebels were up 7-3.
It was the same in the top of the seventh as the Rebels got a leadoff home run from Utermark for an 8-3 advantage. Taylor Rabe replaced Elliott and the Hilltoppers scored in the bottom of the seventh on a leadoff homer by Kyle Davis to make it 8-4.
Rabe only allowed an earned run through two innings of work.
In the ninth, Ole Miss went to closer Conner Spencer, who had pitched two-thirds of an inning with 11 pitches the night before in the 9-6 loss to Murray State. He allowed one run, Western Kentucky got two total runs, and the game ended with the Rebels up two.
The game marked the first time since at least 1997 that three Rebels hit two home runs each in a game.
Elliott (10-3) got the win. Reliever Dawson Hall (7-2) got the loss.
Ole Miss had 15 hits, led by Utermark with three and Sanford, Hill, Humphrey, and Fawley with two each.
Western Kentucky had 14 hits, with Wideman and Hayes with three hits each.
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