OXFORD | Hayden Leatherwood stirred as soon as Matthew Adams walked to the bullpen. Three innings later he got his chance. And didn’t miss it.

Leatherwood, hit a pinch-hit, two-run home run. On the first pitch he saw in the seventh inning, giving Ole Miss a 4-3 lead that would be the final in the Rebels’ win over Southern Miss (6-2) on Tuesday. Ole Miss (7-1) has won seven straight and heads to the Keith LeClair Classic in Greenville, North Carolina, this weekend.

Leatherwood has started three games this season but has only seen at-bats against right-handed pitchers. So when Adams relieved Boyd, he expected an opportunity. It’s his second home run in as many at-bats, after his walk-off long ball versus Xavier in the eighth inning on Sunday.

“As a child I always wanted to be here,” Leatherwood said. “Now I’m hitting a couple home runs and actually making an impact, it’s indescribable.

“I put batting gloves on and grabbed a bat and started to stay loose once I saw a right-hander warming up.”

Ole Miss pitched by committee, using six different ams with no one throwing more than Taylor Broadway’s 2.1 innings. Jackson Kimbrell (1 inning), Austin Miller (2 innings), Max Cioffi (2.0 innings) and Braden Forsyth (1 inning) pitched in relief of Wes Burton.

Forsyth allowed two runners in the ninth but got the closing strikeout to strand the tying run at third and pick up his second save of the season.

Burton walked one and gave up a hit in 1.2 innings. He worked out of the first without much issue, but in the second inning, after two quick outs, he gave up a double, a hit by pitch and a walk in succession, prompting Bianco to move to Broadway. Burton’s velocity was couple MPH lower than his typical low 90s, and Bianco said he’d been fighting off a cold in recent days.

“He just didn’t have his best stuff today,” Mike Bianco said. His velocity was a little down, and he’s been under the weather a little bit. He just didn’t look sharp from the get-go. With so many rested guys in the bullpen we were ready to go.”

Leatherwood is 6-for-11 with a 1.734 OPS this season. He’s also walked three times.

“It’s still early, and we’re far from what the lineup is going to look like,” Bianco said.

Ole Miss took a 2-0 lead in the third after two-out hits from Peyton Chatagnier and Tyler Keenan. Chatagnier doubled on a 1-0 count and Keenan rolled a ball through the infield to score him with two strikes. d

USM scored individual runs in the fifth through seventh innings prior to the Leatherwood home run.

Ole Miss only had three at-bats with a runner in scoring position but picked up two hits.