OXFORD, Miss. — Ole Miss wrapped up the 2025 regular season with a hard-fought but disappointing 13-8 loss to the No. 6 Auburn Tigers at Swayze Field on Saturday.
Despite early momentum and a standout performance from Isaac Humphrey, the Rebels couldn’t hold off a late Auburn surge, finishing the regular season 37-18 overall and 16-14 in SEC play.
The Rebels started strong as Mitchell Sanford launched a leadoff solo home run in the bottom of the first, giving Ole Miss an early 1-0 advantage.
The lead held until the fourth when Auburn’s Ike Irish tied the game with a solo shot of his own before Bristol Carter’s two-RBI single put the Tigers ahead 3-1.
Ole Miss quickly responded in the bottom of the inning. Judd Utermark drew a walk, Will Furniss singled, and Isaac Humphrey blasted a three-run homer, swinging the lead back to the Rebels at 4-3.
The offense kept rolling in the fifth: Luke Cheng was hit by a pitch, Sanford singled, and Luke Hill drove in Cheng.
Utermark and Humphrey added RBI hits, with Humphrey’s double plating two more runs to make it 8-3 Ole Miss after five innings.
However, Auburn’s bats came alive in the sixth, scoring five runs to tie the contest at 8-8. The Tigers took control in the seventh with two more runs and sealed the win with a three-run ninth.
Ole Miss was unable to answer, leaving the final at 13-8 in favor of Auburn. Both teams tallied 13 hits, but the Rebels’ bullpen and defensive miscues proved costly.
Isaac Humphrey led Ole Miss with two hits and five RBI, while Utermark and Sanford each collected three hits.
On the mound, Mason Nichols started strong but the Rebels used seven pitchers, with Ryan Rodriguez taking the loss. Auburn’s Ryan Hetzler earned the win in relief.
After the game, Rebels coach Mike Bianco acknowledged the team’s struggles wrapping up series.
“Obviously, the three errors stick out and it’s true, we’ve got to make those plays,” Bianco said. “But there’s enough blame to go around. We got off to a hot start, then the closer came in and we didn’t do much in the second half of the game.
“We had some traffic early, but we couldn’t extend innings and get the big hit. We kind of got stagnant offensively. Then when you make the errors, you gotta make the pitches too
“At the end of the day we played really hard and it wasn’t good enough. We didn’t make enough plays or have enough good at bats or make enough pitches to win the baseball game.”
Despite the loss, Ole Miss secured a series win over Auburn, having taken the first two games 9-2 and 15-11 earlier in the week.
The Rebels now shift their focus to the SEC Tournament in Hoover, Alabama, where they enter as the No. 7 seed and will face the winner of Florida and South Carolina on Wednesday, May 21.
