OXFORD – Everything seemed aligned for one of those moments little leaguers dream of as they take their first baseball swings.
A nearly double-digit lead from the opponent coming undone in the blink of an eye. A beloved, weary hero coming into the game late to give his team one last shot to make magic happen. A one-run deficit in the bottom of the ninth inning, the entirety of Swayze Field’s crowd on its feet, chanting in unison with their hearts in their throats.
Oh, what almost was.
Trailing by nine runs heading into the bottom of the seventh inning of Monday night’s Oxford Regional final, Ole Miss scored eight runs in the seventh and eighth combined to pull within a run of Murray State. Senior Hunter Elliott – making his first relief appearance since April of 2022 after having made 115 pitches Saturday – retired the side in order in the ninth to give the Rebels a fighting chance.
But Murray State closer Graham Kelham shut the door on any hopes of the Rebels rewriting their own story, striking out senior center fielder Isaac Humphrey and sophomore designated hitter Campbell Smithwick before getting freshman right fielder Hayden Federico to fly out to end the game.
No. 10 seed Ole Miss’ magical 2025 season ended with a 12-11 loss to the Racers in the Oxford Regional, coming up just two runs short of what would have been the first Super Regional in Oxford since 2009.
Sitting next to a teary-eyed Luke Hill at the postgame press conference, Rebels head coach Mike Bianco fought back his own emotions. Even after 25 years at the helm, nothing prepares you for the end.
“You don’t have a speech for this. Because, like the rest of the 40 in that dugout and probably 12,000 in the stands, we didn’t think we were going to lose,” Bianco said. “But unfortunately, we did. … So you don’t really have that speech prepared. But just, I’m really proud of them.”
Ole Miss (43-20) fought through the loser’s bracket of its own regional following a loss to Murray State in its opener Friday. But for a team that has battled outside odds all season – the Rebels were picked to finish 15th of 16 teams in the SEC’s preseason poll after missing two-straight NCAA Tournaments and having undergone an offseason roster makeover – staring long odds in the face wasn’t anything new.
The ability to bounce back despite devastation – to “shower well” – is what Ole Miss prided itself on all season. And, as they have time and time again, the Rebels did just that. They won three games in two days over Western Kentucky, Georgia Tech and those very same Racers to set up a winner-takes-all primetime Monday matchup.
“We never give up. From the beginning we were doubted. There was no expectations from the outside perspective with this team,” Hill said. “And this team, at the end of the day, put their head down and went to work. I’ve never been around a group of guys that are so committed to their craft and so committed to their time and being here and wanting to perform for a great community.”
Murray State (41-14) loaded the bases on Rebels freshman starter Walker Hooks in the second inning Monday and scored two runs on four hits – several of the groundball variety. The Racers added three more runs in the third off Hooks, which led to junior Mason Morris taking the mound for the first time since Friday. Morris recorded a pair of strikeouts to end the inning and surrendered four unearned runs over 2 1/3 innings of work.
Sophomore catcher Austin Fawley broke up Murray State starter Isaac Silva’s no-hit bid in the bottom of the third with a solo home run. Junior second baseman Judd Utermark launched a two-run home run in the fourth, his sixth of the regional. Murray State scored four runs in the fifth, another in the sixth and two more in the seventh to create the deep hole Ole Miss found itself standing in.
A five-run bottom of the seventh got the Rebels back into the game, as they loaded the bases and scored two runs on a pair of walks before Hill and junior first baseman Will Furniss drove in three combined runs.
Senior Mason Nichols – who pitched against Georgia Tech Sunday afternoon after having missed two weeks with an oblique injury – pitched a 1-2-3 eighth. Another hero emerged in the bottom of the inning, as sophomore shortstop Brayden Randle hit his first home run of the season deep to right field, a three-run shot that cut what had just minutes earlier seemed like an insurmountable deficit to something resembling an impending comeback.
By then Elliott, one of the heroes of Ole Miss’ 2022 College World Series title team, had sprinted into the bullpen, just two days removed from a gem against the Hilltoppers in one of many must-win-games the Rebels faced over the weekend. The Tupelo native’s last relief appearance had come more than three years earlier against none other than Murray State. And if the Rebels were going to go down, they weren’t going to leave any gas in the tank.
Elliott did what he’s done his whole storied career, retiring the side in order with a mix of fastballs and devastating off-speed offerings. His heroics set the stage for one-last push from an Ole Miss team that has battled back time and time again.
But when the dust settled on the warm June night, it was the Racers embracing on the mound, celebrating arm in arm, taking pictures as the victors.
As the book on the 2025 season closes, Hill isn’t going to focus on the day his season came to a tearful end. He is instead going to focus on the memories made with a group of players that made him oh-so-proud to be a Rebel.
“There’s no one else that I’d rather play with and take the field with every single day. At the end of the day, these are your best friends, and you come to the field with them, you leave the field with them and you spend your time at the field with them and, outside the field, you’re always with them. Just an unbelievable group of guys,” Hill said. “It’s an understatement. And, it’s honestly just a kudos that everything Oxford is about. Just coming in as one and, you leave as one. It’s just the whole community here, and it’s unbelievable. It’s just a great group of guys, and it’s going to be tough to miss. It’s going to be hard.”
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