OXFORD | Gunnar Hoglund’s development from high-ceiling first round draft pick project to Friday night ace and first round draft pick fast track option has been evident in multiple ways.

The junior’s fastball velocity is well above the 90 MPH it sat around when he was a freshman. Instead, he’s maxing in the 95 ballpark and holding 92-94 deep into games. The primary offspeed pitch is a tight slider that has depth and can be both a strike-thrower and a swing-and-miss diving dart with two strikes.

All the stuff, as Mike Bianco calls it, is better and more advanced, and Hoglund is also stronger mentally, pitching and battling deep into counts, where earlier in his career he’d make sure of a strike and give up hard contact more often with two strikes.

But on Friday in the SEC opener against Auburn, it was Hoglund’s physical maturity and toughness that took center stage.

The Rebels beat the Tigers, 1-0, to open SEC play, and Hoglund’s ability to escape a seventh-inning jam set the stage for Calvin Harris’ pinch-hit solo home run in the eighth for the only run of the game.

Ole Miss has won nine straight 1-0 games, last losing one in February 2007, when rain halted a game with Wright State beating Ole Miss, 1-0, in the sixth inning.

Ole Miss has won 10 straight games against Auburn in Oxford

Hoglund had never thrown more than 97 pitches in a game, but that number was passed with work left to do. Auburn put the first two runners on in the seventh with a double and a walk, and they were both in scoring position with no outs after a passed ball.

The right-hander struck out three straight Tigers (11-6) to end the threat, the first two on three consecutive pitches each and then a swing-and-miss after Brody Moore had fouled off two pitches with two strikes.

The Swayze Field crowd of 9,358 erupted as the ball found Hayden Dunhurst’s mitt, and Hoglund reacted before jogging to the dugout — his 105th pitch of the night was the most pivotal one.

He coaxed three fly outs in the eighth and finished his night with 13 strikeouts and 117 pitches, holding serve for the Rebels until Harris’ blast. Hoglund scattered four hits with one walk and held Auburn hitless in five at-bats with a runner in scoring position.

“No one talks about it, but he used to hit a wall around 75 pitches, Bianco said. “He’s matured and gotten better… Tonight was about getting out of his way and letting him work.”

Hoglund, who entered the night leading the nation in strikeouts, struck out the side in the first and recorded five of the first six outs without a ball in play. He struck out two in the fourth inning, as well.

Taylor Broadway pitched a perfect ninth inning for his second save of the season.

Hoglund stepped up in what quickly became a duel versus Cody Greenhill. The Auburn reliever-turned-starter is dealing with a toe injury but threw seven shutout innings despite his fastball velocity sitting 86-87 MPH instead of his typical low 90s.

Greenhill mixed four pitches and located well in the zone with four strikeouts and a walk, but Ole Miss’ inability to get to his fastball was a problem that’s stretched four games now.

“That was a little bit of a head-scratcher for us,” Bianco said. “The plan was to attack the fastball, and he threw more breaking balls and changeups and fastball was just in the 80s. Some of our guys took it for granted and got jammed on 87 MPH fastballls.

“We got a little comfortable and thought we’d get to this and we didn’t. We got beat by fastballs in hitter counts. He commanded two different breaking balls and located fastball in and out. The story is Gunnar because he won, but Greenhill pitched really well.”

Greenhill threw balls on his first six pitches but steadied his pitch count into 62 pitches through five innings. Ole Miss only had two at-bats with runners in scoring position, as Ben Van Cleve and Jacob Gonzalez struck out and popped up, respectively, with runners on second and third inn the seventh inning.

Harris pinch hit for John Rhys Plumlee with one out in the eighth. He fouled off three straight pitches before hitting reliever Joseph Gonzalez’s offering 371 feet over the Ole Miss bullpen in right field.

“I was just looking for a barrel,” Harris said.

Harris had Tommy John surgery in the fall and can only hit currently. A top-five catcher nationally out of high school, the true freshman is unlikely to be medically cleared to play defensively this season, though Bianco didn't rule it out on Friday.

Ole Miss and Auburn continue the series at 1:30 p.m. Saturday.

INJURY UPDATE: Cael Baker had a successful surgery on the hamate bone in his hand on Friday. Bianco said Baker could return prior to the 4-to-6-week timetable that’s common for the injury. This will be a pain management situation..Trey LaFleur is out for approximately three weeks with mononucleosis.