Walk it off Again and the Rebs Stay Hot : Recap of Ole Miss vs Murray State Baseball

What a Wednesday for Ole Miss Athletics. The Rebels walked it off in the 10th at Swayze and then finished the night with an incredible moment in the Pavilion, knocking off number 4 Tennessee and storming the court on Senior Night.

It looked nearly certain that the Rebels would drop this one to the Racers on Wednesday, but this team is different from the last two and showed the grit necessary to rally back and pick up their 10th straight win.

The game started out great. Redshirt Freshman Taylor Rabe made his collegiate debut after missing all last year, and he threw two great innings. Cooper Johnson got a runout and struggled, but Ryne Rodriguez and Will McCausland were excellent over the next four innings. The Rebels rolled into the 7th inning up 4-1.

The wheels would fall off in the 7th innings. It started with Cade Townsend, who mightily struggled with control issues once again. He did not flash these issues throughout the fall and into the spring, but it has been difficult for him early on. He walked the bases loaded and recorded one out. Up next came Brayden Jones, who was really good this year but had a rough night. He allowed four hits, and three runs were brought in. Not to mention, there was an error in the inning as well. Six runs would come across for Murray State in the 7th, making it 7-4 Racers.

The Rebels would get one right back in the 8th as Judd Utermark would launch his second solo shot of the night. It was his 5th homerun in 4 games and his team-leading 7th of the year.

The Rebels would still head into the 9th down two runs but had the top of the lineup coming up. However, Federico and Sanford would both be retired, and it looked certain the Rebels would suffer the brutal midweek upset. Ryan Moerman, however, delivered a two-out single for his third hit of the night, giving the Rebels some life. The next pitch Isaac Humphrey would drive one over the shortstops head.

In strode Judd Utermark. Clearly, the Murray State pitcher didn't want to pitch to him, and the count started at 3-0. Judd had the green light and would swing on 3-0 and 3-1 pitches, but he would just miss one. He would end up drawing the walk and loading the bases.

That would bring up the Junior Will Furniss, who has struggled this year after being counted on for a breakout season. However, he would deliver massively, driving a double in the left-center field gap and bringing in the tying two runs. You have to hope that a moment like this can get him going, as this lineup is still three bats short and could use him at first base.

Then, at the bottom of the tenth, freshman phenom Hayden Federico, who had struggled all game long and was 0-5 coming into this at-bat, would deliver the walk-off hit.

This team is different from the last two and is clearly much better. They have better fight and grit, and it is clear that the players are bought into the mission and are playing for one another. They fought to the last out, and it paid off. The Rebels will be back in action this weekend for a series against Jacksonville State, for final tune-up games before the Razorbacks roll into town to begin SEC play.