No. 10 Baseball Races Past Murray State to Force Deciding Game 7 at Oxford Regional

Published 7:34 am Monday, June 2, 2025

By Staff Report

By Jeff Roberson

Ole Miss Sports

Top-seed Ole Miss advanced to a Monday showdown against four-seed Murray State with a 19-8 win over the Racers Sunday night.

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The teams will play at 5 p.m. Monday, and the winner advances to a Super Regional.

Ole Miss improved to 43-20, while Murray State is now 40-14.

Murray State, which won Friday night’s game 9-6 against Ole Miss, went on top Sunday night 1-0 in the bottom of the first on a RBI single from Luke Mistone, which scored Dustin Mercer who doubled. Ole Miss answered and went ahead 2-1 after the top of the second.

Isaac Humphrey walked, and two outs later Austin Fawley homered for a one-run Rebel lead at 2-1. MSU came back to lead 3-2 in the bottom of the second. After Conner Cunningham walked, Jonathan Hogart homered to left.

An eight-run top of the third put Ole Miss way ahead in this one. Will Furniss with a two-run homer after Owen Paino was aboard pinch running for Luke Hill got things started. It was 4-3 Ole Miss. Things were just getting started in the inning.

After Humphrey tripled, two walks loaded the bases, and Fawley was hit by a pitch for a 5-3 UM lead. Brayden Randle singled to score Smithwick, who was one of the walks, and it was 6-3. Mitchell Sanford singled, and an error on MSU, cleared the bases for a 9-3 Rebel lead. Sanford scored on a wild pitch, and Ole Miss led 10-3.

After the Racers got a run back in the bottom of the third, Ole Miss started the top of the fourth with a rare series of moments – back-to-back-to-back home runs on only three pitches, for Furniss to left, Judd Utermark to center, and Humphrey to right. The Rebs led 13-4. There would be two more runs in the inning for a 15-4 lead.

Murray State cut the lead to 15-6 in the bottom of the fourth, and Ole Miss added a run in the top of the fifth. Utermark was on third after a hit by pitch and walks for Humphrey and Campbell Smithwick, and it was 16-6 Rebels.

A Furniss RBI single and a Humphrey RBI double made it 18-6 in the top of the sixth. MSU posted a run in the bottom of the seventh.

Owen Paino singled in the top of the ninth to score Brayden Randle who had reached on a walk, and the Rebels led 19-7. MSU added a run in the bottom of the ninth for the final margin of 11.

Rebel starter Gunnar Dennis, the senior left-hander, had a good outing with six earned runs on eight hits with two walks and five strikeouts through four complete. Junior left-hander Ryne Rodriguez pitched brilliantly 3.2 innings with one earned run on four hits with two walks and four strikeouts. Junior right-hander Landon Waters pitched the rest of the way for the Rebels.

Furniss with four hits, and Sanford and Humphrey with three hits each led the Rebels.

Rodriguez (1-1) got the win. Starter Kane Elmy (6-2) got the loss.

********************************************************************

In the first game on Sunday, Ole Miss eliminated second-seed Georgia Tech 11-9. The Yellow Jackets, Atlantic Coast Conference regular season champions, finished their season 41-19.

In the first inning, eight total runs were scored – three by Georgia Tech in the top of the first, five by the Rebels in the bottom of the first.

Rebel starter Cade Townsend was roughed up just a bit from the start. The right-handed freshman walked leadoff batter Drew Burress. Kent Schmidt then sent a ball into the Rebel bullpen for a 2-0 Tech lead. Kyle Lodise then followed with a solo home run to left. After Townsend settled in a bit, the Yellow Jackets scored no more. It was 3-0 after the top of the first.

The Rebels answered and more in the bottom of the first. Tech right-handed starter Jaylen Paden gave up a double to leadoff hitter Sanford, who later advanced to third on a passed ball. Hill singled to right to score Sanford.

After Furniss walked and Utermark lined out to left, Humphrey homered to right field and it was 4-3 Rebels. Smithwick then singled, followed by a Federico couple. Fawley singled to left to score Smithwick. It was 5-3 Ole Miss. There was still one out in the frame.

Fawley’s single would end the day of Yellow Jacket starter Paden. Right-hander Carson Ballard came in and got two quick outs.

After giving up a hit by pitch and a walk, Townsend was relieved by right-hander Hudson Calhoun. Georgia Tech got no runs in the second.

In the bottom of the inning, the Rebels added a run on a Humphrey long fly ball that got Hill home after he had doubled and reached third on Furniss base hit. The Rebels led 6-3 after two innings.

The Yellow Jackets got a run in the top of the third on a double by Caron Kerce that scored Vahn Lackey who had reached on a throwing error. GT had cut the UM lead to 6-4.

Georgia Tech scored four runs in the top of the fourth inning to retake the lead at 8-6. Solo home runs by Burriss and Schmidt tied the game 6-6. After two more were aboard, Caleb Daniel doubled to score both and give his team an 8-6 lead.

Things remained that way until the bottom of the fifth. Utermark led off with a home run over the center field wall. Later in the inning Sanford walked with bases loaded, scoring Smithwick who had earlier reached on a walk. The game was tied 8-8 through five complete.

After Georgia Tech got a run in the top of the sixth to lead 9-8, the Rebels got a run in each of the next three innings. Federico got a RBI single in the sixth, Furniss an RBI single in the seventh, and Smithwick with a solo home run to right into the home bullpen. The Rebs led 11-9 heading into the top of the ninth.

With one out and two on, Conner Spencer entered the game for McCausland to get the final two outs and move the Rebels on to a game against Murray State, who was 2-0 in the tournament.

Ole Miss outhit Georgia Tech 14-12. Federico with three this and Smithwick with 3 RBI paced the Rebel offense.

McCausland, the fifth of six Rebel pitchers, got the win and is 3-1. The loss went to Patel (11-2), the fourth of five Yellow Jacket pitchers. Spencer got his eighth save of the season.

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