HOOVER, Ala. — Ole Miss appears to be heating up at exactly the right time.

Austin Fawley homered during a five-run first inning, Riley Maddox struck out seven batters in 5 2/3 innings, and Ole Miss beat Arkansas 5-2 on Friday to advance to the semifinals of the Southeastern Conference baseball tournament.

The Rebels (39-18) won for the fifth time in six games as they chase their first SEC tournament championship since 2018. Ole Miss reached the semifinals in 2021, then over the next three years lost twice in its opening-round single-elimination game and did not qualify for the tournament once.

It’ll take on LSU Saturday at 1:30 p.m. in the second of two semifinal games. Tennessee and Vanderbilt play the first, at 10 a.m. The game times were moved up several hours because of the threat of rain later Saturday.

LSU beat Texas A&M 4-3 on Friday night.

“It’s been a neat year for us, I think. Really gratifying as the head coach because the culture has never left,” Ole Miss coach Mike Bianco said. “We may have not won enough games the last year or two, but the culture has been super, and for it to get to this point where we are, with all the things ahead of us, I think it’s been really neat.”

The Rebels lost four of five SEC series before taking two of three from Auburn to close the regular season. They’ve since beaten Florida and Arkansas in the conference tournament with some outstanding pitching and timely hitting.

Florida only scored one run, and Arkansas got two — one of which was an inside-the-park home run by Cam Kozeal following a scary outfield collision between Isaac Humphrey and Ryan Moerman.

Moerman remained down for several minutes and had to leave the game, while Humphrey remained in. Bianco said he wasn’t sure, immediately after the game, of the extent of any injuries to either player.

“Don’t know what tomorrow will bring for either one of those guys, but yeah, it’s scary,” Bianco said. “I didn’t have a good vantage point sitting in the dugout low. It looked like Hump had a beat on it, I thought he was going to run it down, and then all of a sudden Ryan got in there and it’s just one of those plays that we’ve seen so many times in baseball. Guys just trying to make a play, and unfortunately those things happen.”

Cam Kozeal hit an inside-the-park HR on this scary collision between Ole Miss outfielders Isaac Humphrey and Ryan Moerman.

Moerman, who ran down the ball, was taken out of the game. pic.twitter.com/dw45Ms674o

— Matt Jones (@ByMattJones) May 23, 2025

 

All of Ole Miss’ runs came in the top of the first inning. Four of the first five batters reached base, with Judd Utermark and Moerman each delivering an RBI single. Fawley then hit a three-run home run well over the left field wall for 5-0 lead.

Ole Miss did not score again, but its pitching made the early rally hold up.

Maddox (6-5) pitched into the sixth inning. He allowed two runs on three hits and two walks. Relievers Will McCausland, Mason Morris and Connor Spencer followed with 3 1/3 scoreless innings. Spencer worked a perfect ninth for his first save of the season.

“I really thought the story of the game was Riley Maddox. He was really, really good. It’s a difficult lineup, I think, to navigate through, and he did a great job,” Bianco said. “Once again, I thought our bullpen was outstanding, much like Wednesday night.”

Fawley Bomb: Hoover Edition@fawley_austin x #HottyToddy pic.twitter.com/hJ67AQMLig

— Ole Miss Baseball (@OleMissBSB) May 23, 2025