Ole Miss Drops Intense Pitchers' Duel to Mississippi State, Ends Season on Sour Note

The Ole Miss Rebels were walked off with two outs in the bottom of the ninth on Tuesday night to conclude their 2024 season.

Ole Miss Rebels RHP Riley Maddox / Ole Miss Athletics

The Ole Miss Rebels were walked off with two outs in the bottom of the ninth on Tuesday night to conclude their 2024 season.

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The Ole Miss Rebels saw their season come to a close on Tuesday night in a 2-1 loss to the Mississippi State Bulldogs in their opener of the SEC Tournament.

The game between the two rivals in Hoover, Alabama, was a pitchers' duel from the start as the first hit for either team came in the fifth inning from Ole Miss' Will Furniss who sent a solo home run over the center field wall, aided by bouncing off the glove of State outfielder Connor Hujsak.

Outside of that at-bat, both offenses were silent for most of the game, combining for a total of seven hits, although the Ole Miss defense did aid the Bulldogs by committing two errors.

Hujsak, however, would redeem himself later in the game as he provided a walk-off, two-run home run for the Bulldogs in the bottom of the ninth inning that dashed Ole Miss' postseason hopes in one swing of the bat.

Ole Miss starting pitcher Riley Maddox was electric from start to finish, tossing seven-plus innings of three-hit ball with seven strikeouts. State's starting arm in Brooks Auger was equally as impressive, apart from the home run in the fifth, tossing eight innings of three-hit ball with a whopping 13 strikeouts.

The seven innings and seven strikeouts for Maddox were both career-highs. He was relieved with a runner on and no outs in the eighth inning by left-hander Liam Doyle who completed the inning and secured the first two outs of the ninth prior to the walk-off homer.

The Rebels' season has now officially come to a close as it finishes the year below .500 and will fail to qualify for the NCAA Tournament for the second-straight year after winning it all in 2022.