Ole Miss is Omaha-bound for the third time in the Mike Bianco era. After sweeping through both the Lincoln Regional and Auburn Super Regional, the Rebels find themselves vying for their first national championship since 2022 — and we all know how that year played out.
On Saturday, with a chance to bounce the Tigers from their home park, the Rebels delivered. Ole Miss Ole Miss (41-21) leaned on back-to-back home runs late and stalwart pitching to gut out a 5-3 win over Auburn (42-22) in a packed Plainsman Park.
The Rebels watched Murray State dogpile at Swayze Field to eliminate them from the NCAA Tournament last season, a moment senior Will Furniss said haunted him all offseason. But now, Ole Miss is to enjoy the thrill of eliminating home teams from the postseason not once, but twice, in its pursuit of a second title in program history.
“When you try so hard throughout the year, and you finally get there, and you have a great regional, and it feels like you should have won, but you don’t. I thought about it literally all the way until opening day. It sucked. It’s hard to forget about it,” Furniss said. “This year, we worked really hard not to let that happen.”
Led by timely hitting
Rebel first baseman Furniss was 0-8 at the plate heading into the bottom of the eighth. The game was tied 2-2. Furniss’ teammate, first baseman Judd Utermark, had just drawn a one-out walk. Furniss, who had arguably been Ole Miss’ most consistent bat all season, answered the bell when needed most, knocking a two-run shot over the right field wall to go up 4-2.
The hitting was contagious. Rebel slugger Tristan Bissetta, who stepped up to the plate after Furniss’ deep shot, followed it up with a long ball of his own. Ole Miss took a 5-2 lead into the top of the final inning. The timely hits were likely fueled by a Hayden Federico web gem to keep Auburn from adding to its score tally in the top of the eighth.
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— Ole Miss Baseball (@OleMissBSB) June 6, 2026
Ole Miss turned to trusted closer Walker Hooks to put the game away in the top of the ninth. The lefty from Brandon forced a strikeout after giving up a leadoff hit. The following sequence turned the game dramatic, as Hooks hit the next batter he faced, followed by tossing a wild pitch that advanced runners to second and third. Nine-hole hitter Taylor Belza roped a line drive to right field. The ball was snagged by Bissetta, but it scored a Tiger run.
Then, a full circle moment brewed. Mason McCraine, the freshman who shelled Hooks in the ninth inning on Friday, stepped up to the plate with a chance to knot it up. Unfazed, the Rebel closer worked the Auburn batter into a 1-2 count before a ground ball was knocked to Utermark, who delivered a strike to Furniss to wrap the third Omaha appearance of the Bianco era in red and blue.
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— Ole Miss Baseball (@OleMissBSB) June 7, 2026
Suboptimal start
Ole Miss rallied when necessary, but the team did not necessarily have its strongest offensive performance. The first six Rebel batters grounded out in their first plate appearance, while two batters in the bottom of the order struck out and the other flied out to boost the confidence of Auburn ace Alex Petrovic.
The Rebels did not have a base runner until Utermark drew a one-out walk in the bottom of the fourth, and Furniss hit into a double-play to upend any effort to score.
At that point, Auburn had taken a 2-0 lead, courtesy of a two-run single hit by Meridian native Bub Terrell. The hit guaranteed one run, but Terrell found a way to advance an Auburn runner from first to home plate by distracting Rebel infielders with what ended up being a successful effort at stealing second.
Ole Miss continued a frustrating trend of rough at-bats and even stranded a runner on third in the fifth inning, but the breakthrough proved inevitable in the bottom of the sixth. That’s when Utermark roped a double to the right-center field wall, scoring Brayden Randle and Dom Decker to even up the scoreboard.
Rabe wins pitcher’s duel
Taylor Rabe’s performance might have been overshadowed by the offensive onslaught in the eighth inning, but it was ultimately what gave his team a puncher’s chance against one of the nation’s tougher offenses. Rabe, a draft-eligible sophomore, struck out eight batters while only surrendering two runs on six hits and a walk in seven innings.
He was the better of a duel between Petrovic, who was not so shabby himself. The Auburn righty fanned five batters, while only giving up two earned runs on three hits and two walks. His teammate, star closer Jackson Sanders (5-2), was hit with the loss after allowing the three runs in the bottom of the eighth.
For Ole Miss, Madison native JP Robertson (5-1) earned the win for holding Auburn scoreless in the top of the eighth, despite walking two batters. Hooks earned his ninth save of the season by preventing the Tigers from tying or reclaiming the lead in the top of the ninth.
Bianco praises veterans
Bianco, in his 26th season as the Ole Miss skipper, has coached a lot of baseball since being hired in 2000. He has seen teams overwhelm, underwhelm, and even perform at the expected level. One similarity he’s seen with this club compared to the 2022 one that won the World Series is strong veteran leadership.
From Tim Elko and Dylan DeLucia in 2022 to Hunter Elliott, the only remaining Rebel from that title-winning team, Utermark, and Furniss, Bianco attributed this year’s success to the veteran nucleus sticking with the program, despite down seasons in 2023 and 2024, and reaping the success of following through.
“Early on, we talked about Hunter [Elliott], who has been here like ten years. He was part of the national championship, but Judd [Utermark] and Will [Furniss] came here the year after. Their road to this point hasn’t always been easy, but man, the way they hung in there, stuck by one another early on, just great teammates, then developed into great leaders and the faces of the program,” Bianco said.
“Guys have heard me say, ‘To win, you need your stars to show up,’ and certainly Will and Judd and those guys showed up this weekend.”
Record-breaking weekend
It’s no secret that college baseball is growing, as evidenced by the atmospheres at home parks across the nation this postseason. And Auburn made a case for the best environment of them all. Plainsman Park saw its largest-ever crowd announced on Friday, with 10,627 in attendance, then surpassed on Saturday, with 10,635 present in the stadium.
On top of that, fans utilized a neighboring parking garage to watch the game, and a makeshift fan zone was set up near the third base side entrance of the stadium, featuring a jumbotron, food trucks, and a lot of fans watching baseball.
Next up
Ole Miss heads to Omaha, Nebraska, to compete for the title. The Rebels will open things up with a battle between the winner of the Chapel Hill Super Regional. Host North Carolina and USC are currently split 1-1, with a Sunday showdown set to determine who will advance. Troy and West Virginia have punched tickets to the Rebels’ side of the bracket.
The College World Series will run from June 12-22.