'Huge!' Jackson Ross' Heroics Lead Ole Miss to Walk-Off Win Over Mississippi State

First baseman Jackson Ross was the hero for the Ole Miss Rebels on Saturday night against the Mississippi State Bulldogs.

Ole Miss first baseman Jackson Ross celebrates with his team after his walk-off single on Saturday night. / Ole Miss Athletics

Jackson Ross did not grow up around the Ole Miss-Mississippi State rivalry, but he has quickly become acquainted with its intensity.

Regardless of the sport, these two fan bases feature a great deal of animosity towards one another throughout a calendar year, and the Lakeland, Fla., native who transferred to Ole Miss from Florida Atlantic made a difference in this rivalry front-and-center on Saturday night.

Ross went 3-for-5 at the plate in Ole Miss' 10-9 extra-inning win, but his biggest contribution came with two outs in the bottom of the 12th when he laced a walk-off, two-run single into left field to lift the Rebels to victory.

"It's huge," Ross said after the game. "As an outsider, you don’t realize how intense it gets, being here in front of all these fans. I mean, holy cow. The energy’s different, everyone feels it in there."

Before Ross' game-winning hit, Ole Miss had lost eight games in a row, and it was floundering with a 3-10 mark in SEC play. There is still plenty of work to do for Mike Bianco's team if it hopes to turn things around this season, but Saturday could provide a spark to that end.

"It was huge," Ross said. "We’ve been waiting on it for a while, now. It was so big. It was awesome to hopefully get some momentum going and get off that losing streak. Seemed like we were on a skid there and it was like, ‘Man, we got to put a stop to it, eventually.’ No better team to do it against than those guys.”

The Rebels have lost seven straight SEC series to the Bulldogs, but they will look to break that streak on Sunday when they face State in the rubber match at Swayze Field. First pitch is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. CT, and the game will be televised on SEC Network+.