Ole Miss send Arkansas a message

Ole Miss has been a national number one this season, and they seem intent to show that, despite their mid-season bumbling, they are still a force to be reckoned with.

Trading runs with the Arkansas Razorbacks in the opening innings, it seemed briefly as if the Hogs might give the Rebs a run for their money. But when Hunter Elliott gathered himself and settled into his groove, the Razorback runs stopped, almost like turning off a faucet.

Arkansas went toe-to-toe with Ole Miss in the first two innings, getting back three for the four that they gave up, but when the Rebels scored two in the third, they managed to hold the Razorbacks scoreless in the bottom half. From there, they never looked back. The Rebel bats kicked it into a higher gear and scored nine unanswered before finally surrendering two consolation runs in the bottom of the ninth.

The 13-5 victory for Ole Miss sets the tone for the College World Series, leaving the Rebels as the only team still in the NCAA tournament to have come through without loss.

Starting with their regional games, the Rebels have been a team reborn, scoring 64 runs and only giving up 17. Any way you cut it, the secret to baseball is the same as in any part of life, score a lot of runs while not giving up too many. Ole Miss are onto a winning formula if they can keep doing that.

Arkansas will now have to drop to the lower bracket and face Auburn later today at 6 p.m. ET with the victor of that contest getting another chomp at the Rebels.

If the Razorbacks are to come back from this loss, they will need to be pitch-perfect. Ole Miss can hit or miss, the Hogs can’t miss once.