Ole Miss beats Auburn 5-3, advances to College World Series

AUBURN, Ala. (WLBT) - Ole Miss baseball is going back to Omaha.

The Rebels knocked off No. 4 Auburn 5-3 Saturday at Plainsman Park, sweeping the Auburn Super Regional two games to none and punching their ticket to the College World Series for the first time since winning the national championship in 2022.

Ole Miss improved to 41-21 on the season. The Rebels will head to Charles Schwab Field in Omaha, Nebraska, when the College World Series opens Friday, June 12.

Rabe dominates early

Taylor Rabe was sharp for Ole Miss. The Rebels’ starter struck out eight Auburn hitters over seven innings, allowing just six hits and two earned runs on 104 pitches. He retired eight of the last nine batters he faced heading into the eighth inning.

Auburn strikes first

The Tigers broke through in the fourth inning.

With one out and runners at the corners, Bub Terrell blooped an RBI single into right field to score Chris Rembert and push Ethin Bingaman to third. Bingaman then scored on the throw as Terrell advanced to second after a chasedown. Auburn led 2-0.

Ole Miss breaks through

The Rebels’ first hit didn’t come until the fifth inning — a single by Hayden Federico down the right field line.

The dam broke in the sixth.

Judd Utermark stepped to the plate with runners on base and launched a two-RBI double off the wall in right-center field, scoring Brayden Randle and Dom Decker to tie the game at 2-2 and ending Alex Petrovic’s afternoon after 5 1/3 innings. Auburn turned to left-hander Jackson Sanders, who worked out of the jam.

Back-to-back home runs seal it

The eighth inning is when Ole Miss seized control.

With one out, Will Furniss launched a two-run home run off Sanders to give the Rebels a 4-2 lead. On the very next pitch, Tristan Bissetta crushed a solo home run, pushing the lead to 5-2 and ending Sanders’ day.

Auburn turned to Ryan Hetzler, who got two quick outs to end the inning.

Auburn’s final chance falls short

The Tigers had one last chance in the ninth. Walker Hooks entered for Ole Miss and found trouble. Taylor Belza’s sacrifice fly to right scored Bub Terrell to make it a 5-3 game. Hooks got the final outs to preserve the victory and send the Rebels to Omaha.

Omaha bound

For Ole Miss baseball, a trip to Omaha is never just a trip to Omaha.

The Rebels are heading to the College World Series for the seventh time in program history — and for the first time since they left Omaha as national champions in 2022.

Ole Miss made its first trip to Omaha in 1956, followed by appearances in 1964, 1969 and 1972. The program went more than four decades between its 1972 appearance and its next trip to Omaha in 2014 under head coach Mike Bianco. That 2014 squad went 2-2 in the College World Series — opening with a loss to Virginia, then winning back-to-back games over Texas Tech and TCU, before Virginia eliminated them.

Then came 2022 — a run Ole Miss fans will never forget.

The Rebels entered that NCAA Tournament as the last team in — the final at-large bid in the entire field. They responded by winning the Coral Gables Regional at Miami, sweeping Southern Miss in the Hattiesburg Super Regional and then going 5-1 in Omaha — capping it all with a 2-0 sweep of Oklahoma in the Championship Series to claim the program’s first and only national title.

Now, four years later, Bianco has this group back in Omaha. It is his third trip to the College World Series as Ole Miss head coach — and his 26th season leading the program.

There is one thread connecting this 2026 team to that 2022 championship — pitcher Hunter Elliott, the lone remaining player from the national title squad.

This year’s Rebels took a different path to get here. They finished just 15-15 in SEC play, scraped their way into the NCAA Tournament field, won a road regional in Lincoln against Nebraska, Arizona State and South Dakota State and then knocked off No. 4 seed Auburn on the road in straight games to punch their ticket.

The College World Series opens Friday, June 12, at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha, Nebraska. Ole Miss will face North Carolina in its opening game.

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