Arkansas and Ole Miss played one of college baseball’s most memorable series of 2021 last month.
On Saturday, the Razorbacks and Rebels will meet at the SEC Tournament with a trip to the championship game on the line. The game is scheduled to begin at approximately 3:30 p.m. on SEC Network.
Ole Miss defeated Vanderbilt 4-1 on Friday at Hoover (Ala.) Metropolitan Stadium to stay alive at the tournament. The Commodores, who lost 6-4 to Arkansas on Thursday, were eliminated.
The Rebels (41-18) are 3-1 in Hoover this week. Ole Miss won 7-4 in a single-elimination game over Auburn on Tuesday, suffered a 5-4 walk-off loss to Vanderbilt on Wednesday, and defeated Georgia 4-0 in an elimination game Thursday.
Ole Miss scored three runs against Vanderbilt All-SEC pitcher Jack Leiter on Friday. Peyton Chatagnier walked with the bases loaded and Calvin Harris had a sacrifice fly in the second inning, and TJ McCants singled with two outs in the seventh to score Cade Sammons and send Leiter to the bench.
Leiter (8-3) allowed 3 runs, 3 hits and 3 walks, and struck out 8 in 6 2/3 innings.
Kevin Graham hit a solo home run in the top of the eighth inning to put the Rebels ahead 4-0. Vanderbilt (40-15) plated its only run in the bottom of the eighth when Dominic Keegan grounded into a double play that allowed Javier Vaz to score.
Ole Miss pitcher Tyler Myers (4-2) earned the win with seven scoreless innings. Myers allowed 5 hits, walked 1 and struck out 6.
The Rebels are the No. 5 seed in the tournament and are in the semifinals for the third consecutive tournament. Ole Miss won the SEC Tournament in 2018 and lost in the championship game two years ago.
No tournament was played last season.
The top-seeded Razorbacks won their tournament debut Wednesday with an 11-2 victory over Georgia. Arkansas earned an off day Friday with its victory over Vanderbilt on Thursday night.
The tournament returns to a single-elimination format Saturday. The winners of the Arkansas-Ole Miss and Florida-Tennessee semifinal games will meet in the championship game Sunday afternoon.
Arkansas won two of three games at Ole Miss on April 10-11. The Razorbacks won 18-14 in the series finale after the Rebels rallied from an 11-run deficit to tie the game.
Arkansas rallied from a three-run deficit to win 7-3 in the series opener. Ole Miss won the second game 13-6.
Ole Miss announced a three-day attendance of more than 33,000 for the three games against Arkansas in April, which was a weekend record at Swayze Field.
Saturday’s meeting will be the 10th between Arkansas and Ole Miss at the SEC Tournament. Arkansas has a 5-4 lead in games played in Hoover. The teams split two games in the tournament in 2019.