Hunter Elliott knew he didn’t have his fastball. Or his slider, for that matter. In front of a sold out crowd facing host and No. 6 national seed Miami, the freshman stood on the mound in the early innings with traffic everywhere and bullets that were far less powerful than usual.

His counterpart, Hurricane ace Carson Palmquist, kept throwing up zeroes and spinning a sidearm delivery from the left side into out after out. It was a situation similar to ones that had crushed newcomers around the country having their first taste of NCAA Regional play.

But instead of cowering, Elliott trusted that what he had was enough. Walks and bad counts caused all sort of trouble, but the left-hander, who picked up a Team USA invite earlier in the week, survived five innings, kept close enough pace with Palmquist and gave the Rebels a chance.

Ole Miss took advantage of that opportunity, using spectacular bullpen work and a sequence of quality at-bats in the seventh inning to beat Miami, 2-1, and move to the regional final Monday at 12 p.m. CT.

The 2-0 team has won the regional 81 percent of the time since the NCAA Tournament expanded to the current format.

The Rebels (34-22) face the winner of Arizona and the Hurricanes and get two chances to win one game to move to the super regional round of the NCAA Tournament against Southern Miss or LSU.

“It wasn’t (Elliott’s) best day but the results were terrific,” Mike Bianco said. “Don’t know many freshmen who can handle what he handled today. To have success, especially in postseason, your stars have to show up and play well. We’ve had that.”

Elliott threw five shutout innings to start the game after left with runners on first and third with no outs in the sixth.

A walk, wild pitch and misplaced hit to right ended his day but not before he stranded the bases loaded in the first and the leadoff runner in the first four innings. A one-two-three fifth where he struck out the side was the only clean inning of the appearance.

Elliott struck out eight, walked five and threw 98 pitches. Palmquist struck out 10 in 5.1 innings and didn’t allow a run.

“Coach B always tells me my stuff is good enough to compete anywhere against anybody,” Elliott said. “Couldn’t find my fastball or slider or anything early… but with the bases loaded you better throw strikes. I didn’t have either until the later innings.”

A bunt single, a walk and another walk around a huge strikeout of Yohandy Morales gave the Hurricanes the bases loaded with one out in the first inning. It was a threat to end the game before it really started, but Elliott got back to back strikeouts on 2-2 counts.

With what’s become his trademark all season, Elliott wiggled in and out of trouble, elevating his fastball and trusting his deceiving changeup to erase runners and avoid the blow-up inning.

“I don’t know how many guys could have gotten through the first like Hunter did,” Bianco said. “On the road and against a No. 1 seed it didn’t look like he was going to handle it. He handled it. It’s why he is special. He doesn’t let the inning blow up on him. That was certainly the difference in the day, especially early.”

Elliott's season ERA is down to 3.17, and he's given up three runs or fewer in all but one start this year.

While Elliott kept things close enough for a rally later, fellow freshman Mason Nichols was just as vital. He kept the damage to a single run with the two inherited runners in the sixth and added a scoreless seventh and an out in the eighth.

Nichols retired all seven batters he faced with three strikeouts.

Brandon Johnson, a day after throwing 28 pitches to get the save against Arizona, finished off the final five outs. Johnson allowed a one-out double in the ninth that put the tying run in scoring position but got back-to-back strikeouts to end the game, delivering his usual fist pump before teammates greeted him around the mound.

Johnson threw 32 pitches.

While Miami couldn’t get the big hit, Ole Miss had similar offensive issues for most of the game. The Rebels couldn’t get to Palmquist despite four walks, and things seemed bleak after the Rebels put two men in scoring position with no outs in the sixth but came up empty.

Kevin Graham was fooled on a two-strike breaking ball for a strikeout, Kemp Alderman struck out looking on a full count pitch and after a walk, Peyton Chatagnier hit into a fielder’s choice to keep the Rebels down by a run.

Then the seventh inning happened. After two quick outs, Justin Bench singled to left, and Jacob Gonzalez singled to right, setting up Tim Elko. On the first pitch, he doubled in the gap, bringing in both runners and giving Ole Miss the needed margin.

A year ago, Elko was the Oxford Regional MVP. Now, he catapulted the Rebels into the driver’s seat in Coral Gables.

“My approach is always look fastball and adjusting,” Elko said. “They tried to ice me a little bit and talk to the pitcher before but I stuck with my approach and was a little fired up after those other good at-bats.”