HOOVER, Ala. — Ole Miss has played its way into position to win the Southeastern Conference championship — and maybe a lot more.

Four pitchers combined on a two-hit shutout as the Rebels beat LSU 2-0 in the semifinals of the SEC baseball tournament on Saturday.

Will Furniss homered in the first inning and Campbell Smithwick hit an RBI single in the fourth to account for all of the scoring. The Rebels only had three hits in the game.

Ole Miss (40-18) is in the championship game for the first time since 2019, and will play Vanderbilt (41-16) for the title Sunday at noon on SEC Network. Vanderbilt beat Tennessee 10-0 earlier Saturday in the other semifinal.

Ole Miss, the No. 7 seed in the SEC tournament, won its third consecutive game in Hoover and for the sixth time in seven games overall. The hot streak might be enough to bring an NCAA Tournament regional to Oxford next weekend.

The latest D1 Baseball projections after Saturday’s game had Ole Miss as the No. 14 overall seed, which would make them one of the 16 regional hosts. The host sites will be announced Sunday evening, and the full 64-team field Monday at 11 a.m. on ESPN2.

“I know it sounds like coach-speak, but it’s really not about who you’re playing. We feel we’re pretty good, as well, and when we play well, we can play with anybody in the country,” Ole Miss coach Mike Bianco said. “One of the things that we’ve talked about for a long time now is can we play consistently well over a period of time. Baseball is a tough game to do that. But this team has done it now for a few weeks.”

Ole Miss’ SEC tournament run has been powered by pitching. It’s only allowed three runs in its three games, and Saturday’s performance might have been the best yet.

Cade Townsend, a freshman who only appeared in two SEC games this season, started and allowed two hits and three walks in 4 2/3 innings. Relievers Gunnar Dennis, Will McCausland and Connor Spencer took it the rest of the way.

The bullpen combined for five strikeouts. They walked two batters and did not allow a hit.

“It was loud there today, so for Cade to perform like that, his best outing of the year,” Bianco said. “We tried to prime him for that, a lot of mid-week starts, but nothing like that today. So for him to perform like that and then Spence at the end who’s just been lights out.”

LSU (43-14) was shut out for the first time since April 15, 2022 vs. Arkansas, and also had a season-low hit total. It was only the third time the Tigers have ever been shut out in 145 SEC tournament games, with the others coming in 2004 and 2016.

Despite the loss, D1 Baseball projected LSU as the No. 5 national seed for the NCAA Tournament.

“Great job by Ole Miss. They’ve obviously pitched very well here. They certainly did in this game, as they did against Florida and Arkansas. Proud of our team. Had an excellent regular season,” LSU coach Jay Johnson said. “Really excited about playing home baseball next week, hopefully the next two weeks, and we’ll get ready for that. Get home tonight, get a day off tomorrow, see the lay of the land on Monday and get right to work right after that.”