OXFORD | Mike Bianco, when he left the field on Saturday, wasn’t sure who he was giving the ball to on Sunday. He made the correct decision.

Grayson Saunier, five days after throwing 70 pitches and giving up one run in 3.2 innings to Mississippi State, put forth his best outing of the season to help Ole Miss to its first SEC series victory.

“He’s been good with the slider and offspeed pitches, but that was his best fastball day command-wise,” Mike Bianco said. “He was able to locate on a tough day to pitch.”

It wasn’t without late drama, though.

The Rebels beat Georgia, 8-7, behind six strong innings from the freshman, as he gave up just one run on two hits. Saunier struck out six without a walk and threw 51 strikes out of 77 pitches.

The Bulldogs tied the game with a two-run home run in the ninth, but TJ McCants hit a walk-off single to score Judd Utermark for the win. Utermark collided with catcher Fernando Gonzalez and jarred the ball loose.

Ole Miss is 5-16 in the SEC and 23-21 overall, while Georgia falls to 24-20 and 8-12. The Rebels are in a 13th place tie with Missouri in the SEC and a game (and tiebreaker) back of Mississippi State for 12th. Twelve teams advance to the SEC Tournament.

Saunier previously had a five-inning career high; he did it twice this season — at Minnesota and at Memphis. He started the season as Ole Miss’ Saturday starter but struggled in SEC play and moved to midweek action after the sixth week of the season.

Mason Nichols relieved Saunier and was unlucky with the three batters he faced. Connor Tate blooped a two-strike pitch into the outfield, and Parks Harber hit a ground ball through the four hole. Cole Wagner hit a hard ground ball and reached on an error, as Peyton Chatagnier couldn’t corral it, allowing a run to score.

“His stuff was really good, and his velocity ticked down a little bit and I just thought it wasn’t fair (to put him back in for the seventh inning),” Bianco said. “It wasn’t anything we saw… but he was really good and you have to hand it off to those guys. It’s their job to finish it.

“I know (Mason) was disappointed, but we wanted the ball in Jack’s hand with the game on the line. It doesn’t mean you don’t trust Mason, but that’s how you set it up… … Sometimes it’s bad fortune, and that’ the case for Mason today.”

Jack Dougherty, who threw two scoreless innings for the save on Friday, stranded the bases loaded, getting a foul out and a strikeout before a walk and fly out ended the inning.

Georgia scored three in the eighth to turn Saunier’s start into a no-decision. Dougherty gave up three singles and a walk in the inning. He struck out Gonzalez looking for third out with the go-ahead run at third base.

Ethan Lege, who has a hit in seven of his last eight games, hit a home run to give Ole Miss a 2-0 lead in the first inning and had a two-out, RBI single in the eighth to break a 5-5 tie. Kemp Alderman followed it with an RBI single for an insurance run.

Dougherty walked the leadoff batter in the ninth, and Ben Anderson hit a two-run home run to tie the game. Anderson, then, robbed Ethan Groff of a would-be walk-off home run, grabbing the ball above the centerfield wall.

Calarco singled with one out, and Utermark ran for him. He moved to second on a wild pitch and then came around on the McCants single to left field.

Lege and Chatagnier had three hits and two hits, respectively. Chatagnier hit his second home run of the weekend. Alderman had two hits and two exit speeds of 114 MPH and 109 MPH.

“Peyton had the home runs, and TJ is certainly swinging it better,” Bianco said. “We’re going to need that. For you to be good offensively, the bottom has to throw punches, too.”

Dougherty threw 56 pitches over the final three innings for the win.

The top four spots in Georgia’s order went 10-for-18. The rest of the lineup was 0-for-17. Ole Miss was 3-for-8 with runners in scoring position.