OXFORD | The fifth inning was eight batters and four runs to release some weeks-long relief.

The Rebels were knotted in a tie game, buoyed by a gritty 99-pitch effort from Hunter Elliott, but the starter’s day was done, and recent history was at least one of the options on the table.

For three straight series openers, Mason Morris gave the Rebels sterling bullpen efforts totaling 12 straight scoreless innings, but the Rebels lost all three games as Morris didn’t throw a pitch with a lead.

That wasn’t the case this time. The offense picked him up.

Luke Hill started the fifth inning with a home run off Vanderbilt starter JD Thompson that reached the batter’s eye and went 420 feet to give Ole Miss the lead. Three more hits, a couple wild pitches and a comfortable cushion later, the Rebels handed the bullpen the advantage.

Ole Miss knocked off Vanderbilt, 8-3, to open the three-game set in Oxford on Double Decker Weekend. The series continues at 5 p.m. Saturday. The Rebels are 30-12 and 11-8 in the SEC, moving into a tie with the Commodores (30-12, 11-8).

“We beat a very good team tonight who really pitches it,” Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco said. “Hunter was the best, and Friday night is usually about aces… We put a lot of at-bats together.”

Three eighth-inning runs punctuated the evening for Ole Miss.

Elliott struck out six and walked five but put up four zeroes in his five innings, only giving up one run in the second inning following a leadoff triple. It was one of only two hits Elliott allowed, as he lowered his season ERA to 3.83. Elliott held the ‘Dores without a hit in 11 at-bats with a runner on base.

Elliott struck out five batters with a runner in scoring position.

“I made pitches and got off the field,” Elliott said. “The fastball was a little lively, and I’ve been trying to settle it down. I was really pleased when I had to get one across.”

The lefty has allowed three runs or fewer in seven of his past eight starts.

Morris ran his SEC scoreless streak to 14.1 innings before a walk and a home run ended his night in the eighth inning. Will McCausland got a strikeout on a strike-‘em-out, throw-‘em-out double play to end the eighth. Austin Fawley threw out David Mendez, who beat the throw but slid over and off the bag.

McCausland only threw 11 pitches, nine for strikes, and could be available another time this weekend.

Morris threw 42 pitches and allowed two hits and two walks in getting the seven outs. He uncommonly had only a 55 percent strikes.

“I think he just ran out of gas,” Bianco said of Morris. “He pressed a little bit, and they took advantage of it.”

Hayden Federico hit the first pitch of Ole Miss’ first inning for a home run. That’s the third straight conference game the Rebels hit a leadoff home run in the first inning of a conference game – two by Federico and one by Mitch Sanford.

Sanford reached in the fifth with one out, and after Thompson hit Ryan Moerman with a pitch, Will Furniss singled up the middle to bring in Sanford and extend the lead. Vandy went to Luke Guth who hadn’t allowed a run in 11 innings this season entering the game.

A couple Guth wild pitches added two more runs. He’d thrown two wild pitches previously on the year.

Sanford had three hits, and Federico and Furniss each had two hits. Ole Miss struck out 12 times and walked three times. The Rebels got to Thompson for eight hits and five runs in 4.1 innings – tying the most runs he’s allowed this season and setting a new low for outing length in 2025.

“We want to go on a run these last few SEC series, and it was a total effort tonight,” Sanford said. “It was huge there in the fifth inning to put up the big number and separate.”

Federico singled to start the eighth and moved to second and third on wild pitches. He scored on a Vanderbilt throwing error. Judd Utermark, a batter later, hit a two-run line drive out of Swayze Field for his 12th home run of the season.

Vanderbilt had only four hits and committed two errors. The Commodores finished 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position. Ole Miss advanced runners 9 times in 20 chances, while VU was 4-for-17.