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Hunter Elliott battled sickness, command as No. 17 Ole Miss mounts another comeback to win 11 straight

11by:Jake Thompson•03/07/25•

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Ole Miss infielder Hayden Federico. Mandatory credit: Ole Miss athletics

For a second straight week Hunter Elliott was not his sharpest but this week the Ole Miss ace had a doctor’s note, sort of.

Battling illness Elliott offered up one of his worst performances on the mound as the 17th-ranked Rebels beat Jacksonville State 7-4 to open up the final non-conference series of the season.

In the final tune-up to Southeastern Conference play starting it was not the sharpest of nights but Elliott and Ole Miss (12-1) got the job done, showing more fight similar to Wednesday’s comeback win over Murray State. The Rebels have won 11 straight games and are 10-0 home to start the season.

Elliott worked 3.1 innings, giving up four runs – all earned – of five hits. He struck out five and walked three other batters. Command was off for the lefty as he also hit three batters, bringing in a run on one of them.

“He was sick earlier this week. Went to the doctor (on Thursday),” Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco said. “He gets medicine. Just the crud, and you could tell. The (velocity) was down, the command wasn’t good. By far, his worst outing. But, again, he was able to get out of it. It could have been a lot worse.”

Though with Elliott coming out earlier than anticipated Mason Morris was asked to go long and stretch the game out some. The right-hander answered the call and looked better the deeper his outing went.

Morris worked 4.2 innings of scoreless baseball, giving up one hit and striking out seven Gamecock batters. He walked three other batters and touched 97-98 on the radar gun towards the end of his night.

“I felt good. This fall I was starting some. I was out there for five or six (innings),” Morris said. “So I don’t think that really was a difference. …Working with Joel (Mangrum) this Fall and I think adding the new pitch, the cutter, I think that’s helped a lot. Attacking the zone more than last year.”

Ole Miss was without its offense for most of the night but once again a clutch inning was the difference.

The Rebels hit three home runs in the sixth inning with two outs, scoring four runs off the bats of catcher Austin Fawley, first baseman Will Furniss, and designated hitter Hayden Federico.

Fawley and Furniss were back-to-back solo shots while Federico’s first career home run plated two runs, serving as the go-ahead hit.

The freshman admired his work for a couple seconds before making his lap around the bases, drawing the ire of the Jacksonville State head coach.

“I haven’t hit a lot of home runs in my life, especially left-handed,” Federico said. “When I hit it I kind of knew and I think I let a lot of people know. It was probably too far and it won’t happen again.”

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