Hunter Elliott Strikes Out 10 as Ole Miss Baseball Wins Series Opener vs. EKU

The Ole Miss Rebels rode an impressive performance from LHP Hunter Elliott to a win on Friday afternoon.

Ole Miss LHP Hunter Elliott throws a pitch against Eastern Kentucky at Swayze Field on Feb. 21, 2025. | Ole Miss Athletics

OXFORD -- The weather might have been cold in North Mississippi, but left-handed pitcher Hunter Elliott was anything but on Friday as he struck out 10 batters in an 8-0 win for the Ole Miss Rebels over the Eastern Kentucky Colonels.

The Rebels (4-1) did not find the scoreboard in the first two innings of play, but an error from Eastern Kentucky in the bottom of the third came back to haunt the Colonels as an RBI single from Luke Hill brought home Mitchell Sanford for the first run of the game.

The score remained 1-0 in favor of Ole Miss until the bottom of the fifth when Campbell Smithwick notched his first hit of the season and drove home two runs on an RBI single to center field. The Rebels then pushed across another pair of runs in the sixth on an infield single from Luke Hill followed later by an errant throw into the outfield from EKU catcher Hayden Duffield on a stolen base attempt.

In the seventh inning, Ole Miss' Will Furniss hit a leadoff solo home run by sending a ball opposite field into the visiting bullpen to make the score 6-0 in favor of the Rebels, and then Smithwick added another RBI in the eighth to push it to 7-0. Ole Miss' last run of the day came on a wild pitch in the eighth to reach the final score.

Elliott earned the start on the hill for Ole Miss and threw six innings of scoreless ball, striking out 10 and allowing no walks alongside just three hits. He also picked off a pair of runners that reached in the early innings, pushing his season total of successful pickoffs to three.

He was relieved by Mason Morris who threw the final three innings and kept the Colonels off the scoreboard while striking out three.

The Rebels are set to return to action at Swayze Field on Saturday against Eastern Kentucky with a 1:30 p.m. CT first pitch. The game will be televised on SEC Network+.