How It Happened: Ole Miss Baseball Stuns No. 2 Texas Longhorns in 9-8 Game 1 Win

AUSTIN, Texas – Trailing by three runs and down to the final out in the ninth, Tristan Bissetta gave Ole Miss Baseball (16-3, 1-0 SEC) life with a grand slam, allowing them to pick up a conference play opening win over No. 2 Texas (16-1, 0-1 SEC) 9-8 in 11 innings Friday night.

Bissetta finished 3-for-6 with five RBI, driving in over half of Ole Miss' runs on the night. Judd Utermark finished 4-for-6 with an RBI and a run scored. The two seniors combined went 7-for-12 with six RBI and two runs scored.

Taylor Rabe picked up the win, working the ninth and tenth innings and striking out five Longhorns. Landon Waters earned his first save of the season, punching out the final batter to locked down the win in the 11th.

The Rebels scored the first three runs of the game in the third inning as Hayden Federico and Dom Decker both reached and Utermark drove in the first run with a single to left field. Will Furniss drove in another run with an RBI groundout and Bissetta made it 3-0 with a single to right.

The lead didn't last long as Texas' Ethan Mendoza hit a three-RBI home run to left field to tie it up in the bottom of the third.

Texas would take a 4-3 lead in the bottom of the fourth on a solo home run from Casey Borba.

Ole Miss Baseball. — Courtesy of Ole Miss Rebels Baseball.

The Longhorns extended their lead in the eighth on their second three-RBI home run of the night to make it 7-3 and seemingly end the Rebels' night.

In the ninth inning, Brayden Randle was hit by a pitch to open the inning. Austin Fawley drew a walk, and Federico was hit by a pitch to load the bases with nobody out.

Decker drove in a run with an RBI groundout to first base to make it 7-4. Utermark fouled out and Furniss drew a walk to load the bases with two outs for Bissetta. He took a ball before launching the next pitch 464 feet over the wall in right center field to give Ole Miss a 9-8 lead.

Texas was able to scratch across a run in the bottom of the ninth to send the game to extras.

In the 11th, the bases were loaded once again by Federico, Decker, and Utermark with nobody out. Owen Paino came to the plate for the first time in the game and drew a walk to bring home what would eventually be the winning run in Federico.

Waters entered in the bottom of the 11th, getting the first two batters to groundout. He issued a full count walk before throwing three-straight strikes to strikeout the final batter of the game.

Ole Miss and Texas will play game two on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. in Austin.

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