Ole Miss Holds Off Boston University Rally to Secure Win in 2024 NCAA Baseball Regional
Key keywords: Ole Miss baseball, Boston University (BU) baseball, 2024 NCAA Division I Baseball Regional, college baseball postseason, NCAA tournament upset scare, SEC baseball, Patriot League baseball, walk-off RBI single, Swayze Field
Hosted at Oxford, Mississippi’s iconic Swayze Field in front of a sold-out crowd of 11,281 fans, Saturday’s 2024 NCAA Regional matchup between SEC powerhouse Ole Miss and Patriot League champion Boston University delivered one of the most dramatic contests of the opening weekend of college baseball’s postseason. Ole Miss, who entered the regional as the No. 2 national seed and finished third in the ultra-competitive SEC West this season, jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the first inning behind a 3-run homer from junior first baseman Ethan Lege, and extended their advantage to 7-2 by the top of the 7th inning behind six strong innings from starting pitcher Luke Holman, who struck out 8 BU batters and allowed just 2 earned runs on 4 hits.
However, the underdog Terriers refused to go away quietly, mounting a furious late rally that stunned the home crowd. In the top of the 8th inning, BU shortstop Nick Wang hit a 2-run home run to cut the deficit to 3, before the Terriers plated 3 more runs in the top of the 9th inning, capped off by a 2-run RBI single from right fielder Andrew Fernandez that tied the game at 7-7, silencing the previously raucous Swayze Field crowd. With the game headed for extra innings, Ole Miss got back-to-back singles to lead off the bottom of the 9th, before junior outfielder TJ McCants hit a line drive single to left field that scored the winning run, securing an 8-7 walk-off victory for the Rebels.
Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco acknowledged his team’s inconsistent bullpen performance after the game, noting that his relief corps would need to tighten up ahead of the regional final matchup against TCU. BU head coach Scott Friedman praised his team’s grit, noting that the Terriers, who were making their first NCAA Regional appearance since 1992, had exceeded all expectations this season and proved that mid-major programs could compete with the sport’s blue bloods. The loss eliminates BU from the tournament, closing out their historic 38-19 season, while Ole Miss moves one win away from advancing to the NCAA Super Regional round, where they would face the winner of the Auburn vs. Florida State regional for a spot in the College World Series in Omaha.
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As a lifelong Ole Miss baseball fan, that 9th inning rally from BU almost gave me a full-on heart attack. We were up 5 runs with two innings left and I was already making plans for the regional final, but our bullpen completely collapsed. That walk-off single from McCants was an all-timer though, and the energy in the stadium after he got that hit was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced at Swayze. We definitely need to fix our relief pitching issues before we play TCU tomorrow, though, or we’re going home early.
As a BU alum who flew down to Oxford for this game, I could not be prouder of this team. Literally no one outside of our program thought we would even come close to competing with Ole Miss, and we took the No. 2 national seed down to the final out. That 2-run homer from Nick Wang in the 8th is going to be shown in BU baseball highlight reels for decades. We might have lost, but this run proved that Patriot League baseball deserves way more respect than it gets from national media.
This is exactly why NCAA baseball regionals are the most underrated postseason event in all of college sports. You’ve got a blue blood SEC program that won the College World Series just two years ago almost getting upset by a mid-major team that hadn’t made the tournament in 32 years. The energy from both fan bases was incredible, and the back-and-forth in the final two innings made this one of the best games I’ve watched all year. I can’t wait to see how the rest of the regional plays out.
As a college baseball analyst, this game tells you everything you need to know about the parity in the sport right now. Ole Miss has more talent on their bench than BU has on their entire roster, but the Terriers played with way more heart for the last two innings. If BU had gotten one more hit in the 9th, they would have pulled off the biggest upset of the tournament so far. Ole Miss is lucky to escape with a win here.