Must-See Highlights: Hosting in sight for second 100-homer team in Ole Miss history
Ole Miss baseball came into its potentially-decisive, regular-season-ending series with Auburn ranked Top 10 nationally in home runs.
The Rebels didn’t need to leave the yard to take Game 1. However, they needed three, including a pair and a career-high seven RBI from Judd Utermark, to outlast the Tigers on Saturday, 15-11.
Utermark is now tied for the team lead in round-trippers and Ole Miss, as a team, has reached the 100-homer mark for just the second time in program history. Will Furniss’ ninth-inning shot gave the Rebels a 15-8 lead and secured the Rebels’ 100th of the season.
Ole Miss was ranked in just two of four Top 25 polls this week. Still, the Rebels have now taken the series with the sixth-ranked Tigers to improve to 37-17 overall and 16-13 in SEC games. D1Baseball has every other SEC team with at least 37 total wins and 16 SEC wins ranked no lower than No. 18 nationally.
Ole Miss in the preseason was 15th in the 16-team SEC.
A sweep likely puts the Rebels firmly back in a favorable hosting position with the SEC Tournament in Hoover, Alabama, looming May 20-25. Auburn is No. 2 in the RPI. Ole Miss has the 10th-best strength of schedule in the NCAA.
“If I was on the selection committee, (a sweep of Auburn) would be enough for me,” Baseball America’s Jacob Rudner said this week of the Rebels’ hosting chances. “I think we’ve seen enough good baseball from Ole Miss this season that that kind of convincing sweep to end the year would be a pretty big statement.”
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Six of the top eight teams in Baseball America’s NCAA Tournament projections are from the SEC.
Rudner could see anywhere from 6-10 hosts from the SEC.
Ole Miss had 13 hits as a team, as well as five walks and 14 RBI. The Rebels chased Auburn starter and ace Samuel Dutton after three innings. Dutton gave up the most runs (7) in any of his starts this season. South Carolina tagged Dutton for five runs in four innings last week.
“I don’t know if (Dutton) had quite the command that he normally has,” Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco said. “Not because of walks — just the freedom in the zone with all four pitches. But we got some good swings off.
“I was proud of our guys; we looked comfortable. It looked like we saw it well today. Sometimes it’s just that. Sometimes it’s not the other pitcher that did anything wrong. We had a really good night offensively.”
The included highlights were provided by Ole Miss Athletics. The series finale on Saturday is 1:30 p.m. CT on SEC Network+.
