OXFORD | Hunter Elliott made his return on Saturday, but the outing showed the effects of a two-month absence more than any sign of turning around Ole Miss’ season.

Elliott threw 49 pitches during his first start since the season opener against Delaware on February 17. After missing eight weeks with a non-surgical sprained UCL, Elliott lasted into the second inning and struggled with command.

"It's tough and I felt bad for him," head coach Mike Bianco said. "He's a selfless kid and a great leader and this isn't how you draw it up. Coming off an injury and against the No. 1 team in the country. It obviously wasn't his best day and a lot on him.

"The good news is he went out and did it. It was tough for him and he'll respond. Physically I think he was ready for it and if anyone can do it mentally, he can. It was a big ask to go do what he tried to do today."

The sophomore gave up two hits and walked five out of the 10 batters he faced. Elliott threw 34 pitches in the first frame and gave up a two-run home run to Dylan Crews.

He left with the bases loaded and no outs following a single and two walks to start the second inning. Crews hit a grand slam off Mason Nichols in the first at-bat after Elliott left the game.

LSU rode Crews’ six RBIs in two innings to an 8-4 win over Ole Miss to clinch the series and drop the Rebels to 21-18 overall and 3-14 in the SEC. Ole Miss hasn’t won an SEC series this season, and LSU (31-7, 11-5) goes for the sweep at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday.

Crews went 3-for-5 and is hitting .488 on the season.

JT Quinn will start for the Rebels.

Ole Miss is 6-17 in SEC home games since the start of the 2022 season.

Elliott maxed out his fastball at 90 MPH and worked 86-87 MPH at times during the outing. The changeup — his best pitch — had good movement and led to some positives results, but he occasionally seemed to slow his arm speed somewhat when throwing it.

Elliott has mostly been 88-90 MPH and up to 92 during his Ole Miss career.

"Is it the weather or emotion, I don't know.," Bianco said. "The velocity was all over the place for him, along with the command."

Elliott, after the game, said none of his pitches "were very good," but it wasn't a physical issue, and his bullpens have been normal to this point.

Nichols rebounded to get nine outs without another run, and Cole Tolbert allowed just a solo home run in three innings. Ole Miss never got closer than four runs and didn’t bring a batter to the plate who could tie the game.

Kemp Alderman hit a three-run home run in the sixth inning over the batter’s eye. Jacob Gonzalez doubled and Calvin Harris walked before Alderman’s 114 MPH exit speed that traveled 453 feet. He has a team-leading 16 home runs on the season.

Ole Miss had four at-bats with a runner in scoring position and were 2-for-9 with runners on base.

LSU starter Ty Floyd averaged just more than 10 pitches per inning through five innings and pitched into the ninth inning -- two outs short of a complete game on 111 pitches.

Ole Miss’ top three batters in the lineup — Ethan Groff, Gonzalez and Calvin Harris — are 1-for-33 over the last three games.

"We lose and it's the offense wasn't good enough and then we lose and we didn't pitch well enough or start well enough," Bianco said. "There's enough blame to go around. That's why our league is so stuff; you have to go win the games. You have to play well in all three phases, and that's what's happened to us."