Ole Miss left fielder Brett Moseley arrives at home plate after hitting the first home run of the season for the Rebels against Nevada on Friday night. | Ole Miss Athletics
Ole Miss left fielder Brett Moseley arrives at home plate after hitting the first home run of the season for the Rebels against Nevada on Friday night. | Ole Miss Athletics

Opening Day Wasn’t Perfect, But Ole Miss Starts 2026 in the Win Column

BY Taylor Hodges

Ole Miss opened its season with about the worst start a baseball team can script.

With ace Hunter Elliott on the mound against Nevada, the very first at‑bat of 2026 turned into a nine‑pitch battle. It ended with Wolfpack leadoff man Jake Harvey launching a hanging breaker over the left‑field wall. One pitch later, Jayce Dobie hammered a double off the center‑field wall.

That’s not what anyone at Swayze Field expected to see. But everything after those two swings looked a lot more familiar.

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Elliott settled in, allowing just one more hit in the inning and escaping thanks to Dobie getting caught in a rundown between third and home.

Then the Rebels’ offense immediately flipped the script. In their first trips to the plate, Dom Decker doubled, Judd Utermark walked, and Will Furniss was hit by a pitch. On the very first pitch he saw as a Rebel, Clemson transfer Tristan Bissetta smoked a double off the right‑center wall, and Ole Miss was off and running.

The Rebels put up four in the first, added three more in the second, and never let Nevada breathe again. Elliott looked like himself the rest of the way, striking out seven and walking two across five innings

Ole Miss didn’t play perfect baseball. Two errors, a shaky relief appearance, and a handful of early‑season miscues reminded everyone that Opening Day is rarely a finished product.

But none of it ever threatened to change the outcome.

Nevada’s last flicker of offense came against Owen Kelly, making his debut appearance for the Rebels and recorded only one out, but the Rebels immediately answered with a run of their own.

Brett Moseley added the final punctuation in the eighth, delivering the Rebels’ first home run of the 2026 season, a two‑run shot to right that capped the scoring at 11-3.

It was the kind of predictable, slightly messy February baseball game that won’t be remembered for long, except for the simple fact that Ole Miss won.

Winning/Losing Pitchers

  • WP: Hunter Elliot (5 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 7 K, 82 TP)
  • LP: Dominic Desh (3.1 IP, 7 H, 7 ER, 3 BB, 1 K, 1 WP, 4 HP, 74 TP)

Ole Miss Batting Leaders

  • Will Furniss: 2-2, 1 RBI, 1 R, 1 BB, 1 HBP
  • Tristan Bissetta: 2-3, 4 RBI, 2 R, 1 2B, 1 BB
  • Daniel Pacella: 1-3, 2 RBI, 1 K, 1 HBP

Next Up

Ole Miss and Nevada will continue their season-opening weekend series on Saturday a little bit earlier than originally scheduled.

First pitch for Saturday’s game was moved up 90 minutes to noon, due to inclement weather in the forecast for Saturday evening.

Also, per an Ole Miss press release, the first 250 fans in attendance will receive free tickets in response to Winter Storm Fern. Tickets are provided on a first come, first serve basis.

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