Ole Miss Baseball Pulls Off Impressive Feat in Season-Opening Series Against Nevada

OXFORD, Miss. – Ole Miss baseball swept its season-opening series with a commanding 13-2 win over Nevada Sunday afternoon at Swayze Field.

The Rebels (3-0) had standout performances across the board in the run-rule series finale. Collin Reuter led the way for the Rebels, going 3-for-4 at the plate and tallying his third career three hit game. He last had three hits on April 6, 2024, against Texas while with his last school. Reuter added three RBI to his stat line.

On the mound, Wil Libbert made his first start for the Rebels and capped off an impressive week of pitching from the Ole Miss staff. The lefty worked 5.0 innings while striking out seven of the 20 batters he faced. That mark ties an individual career high, while allowing two earned runs and walking only one batter. He earned his first win as a Rebel for his efforts.

Ole Miss’ pitching staff concluded the weekend against Nevada (0-3) with 35 total strikeouts with only four earned runs. Offensively, Ole Miss’ bats had at least one home run a game and five total on the weekend. The Rebels had 12 extra base hits and were walked a combined 22 times, 13 of those times came in this game.

Ole Miss had the bats going from the first inning. The Rebels strung together five early runs, kickstarted by a double from Judd Utermark to send Dom Decker home. With runners in scoring position, Will Furniss hit a strong single to left field which drove Utermark and Tristan Bissetta home to put the Rebels up by three.

Momentum remained with the Rebels when Daniel Pacella walked to the plate. The Illinois State transfer blasted the longest home run of the weekend for the Rebels at 447 feet for two RBI.

The productive first inning concluded with Ole Miss hitting around, Reuter was the only other baserunner in the inning after reaching first on a throwing error and advancing to second base.

Nevada responded in the second with a home run, but Libbert maintained his composure during his first Ole Miss appearance. He forced a groundout and struck out the following two batters. In the top of the third he pitched his way out of a jam when Nevada’s Sam Kane reached third base. A strikeout, a play from Furniss back to Libbert, and a groundout to Decker at second base kept the four-run lead intact.

Over the course of the next three innings, the Rebels tacked on seven additional runs in response to Nevada scoring again in the top of the fourth. Nevada pitchers struggled to keep balls over the plate, resulting in double-digit walks for the Rebels over the course of the game. Ole Miss’ next six runs came from players who reached off walks.

Much of the scoring came in the bottom of the fifth, which ignited after a double from Utermark sent Bissetta home for his second run of the day. Nevada pitchers loaded the bases, allowing for Austin Fawley’s first hit of the weekend to come at an opportune time. A double from the catcher drove in a run from Furniss.

Reuter, coming off a double in his last at-bat, singled up the middle to drive in two more runs from walked batter Pacella and Fawley. Hayden Federico got walked for the third time of the game to put Reuter in scoring position, but two quick outs would end the inning for the Wolfpack.

With the game in hand, Ole Miss turned to Patrick Collopy and Landon Waters to shut down Nevada in the waning innings. In the top of the sixth, Collopy began by striking out his first two batters before allowing a hit. It wouldn’t be enough, as groundout from the next batter retired the inning.

Waters gave up a double against his first batter but managed to keep them from scoring with a strikeout and two fielder’s choice’ to seal Ole Miss’ run-rule victory at 13-2.

Ole Miss is back at Swayze on Tuesday, Feb. 17, when it faces Arkansas State in a midweek game. First pitch is scheduled for 4 p.m. CT and will be streamed on SECN+.

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