OXFORD | Austin Fawley connected on the 85 MPH Liam Doyle offspeed pitch that stayed up in the zone and out over the plate. It traveled 97 MPH and 361feet, edging over the left field wall.

Tennessee left fielder Dalton Bargo jumped up and came down empty, as Fawley rounded the bases for his seventh home run of the season. The drive sent Swayze Field into a fever pitch representative of the capacity crowd and the energy gathered for two top-six teams and some built-in animosity.

That snapshot of a moment gave a renewed electricity to the venue and Ole Miss some momentum, but it was an isolated experience for the Rebels in the series opener.

No. 5 Tennessee, led by Doyle, who transferred to the Vols following last season from Ole Miss, topped the Rebels, 3-2, in front of 11,818 at Oxford-University Stadium. The two teams meet again at 4 p.m. on Saturday and 2 p.m. on Sunday.

Ole Miss held Tennessee’s offense down most of the game, but each Volunteer run reached base on a walk. The loss included five scoreless innings from Mason Morris.

Morris’ innings were wasted because the Rebels couldn’t get to Doyle. The left-hander maxed at 99 MPH and threw 8.1 innings of two-hit ball in front of his former home crowd.

Doyle struck out 14, walked 14 and celebrated like he won the pennant after inning as he came off the mound. After the bottom of the eighth, he gestured to the Ole Miss dugout as he reached his teammates.

"He's been really good all year, and this wasn't a different night for him," Ole Miss coach Mike Bianco said. "He threw mostly fastballs, and he picked up a cutter, but it was mostly fastballs."

The Rebels (26-8, 8-5) just missed heroics in the ninth. Doyle walked Ryan Moerman to end his outing, and Judd Utermark lined out to the wall, just missing a walk-off home run for the second out. After Will Furniss walked to put the winning run on base, Hayden Federico flew out to end the game.

"It looked like (Utermark's fly out) was gone off the bat, but he didn't get under it enough," Bianco said. "He hit it well, but that's part of it."

Luke Hill singled to start the fourth for Ole Miss’ first base runner, and Fawley had the two other hits – the two-run homer and a one-out single in the eighth inning. Federico walked before Fawley’s home run.

Ole Miss was 1-for-9 with runners on and 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position.

Tennessee (30-4, 10-3) had opportunities to blow it open, but Ole Miss pitched around trouble, holding the Vols to two hits out of 18 chances with runners on and 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position.

Three of Ole Miss’ four chances with a runner in scoring position came in the fourth. Hill moved to second base on a wild pitch following his single, and Doyle responded with three straight strikeouts on 11 total pitches. Mitchell Sanford, Moerman and Utermark went down in that order. Five different Rebels struck out multiple times.

Ole Miss starter Hunter Elliott gave up two hits, four walks and one hit by pitch in four innings. He walked two straight to start the second inning, and a one-out double from Manny Marin scored both runs.

"Just not sharp and a good offense over there," Bianco said about Elliott. "He's a champion, and I know he'll kick himself because the three runs on the board are all walks. I don't have the answer for why but not a great night for him. He competes and keeps you in the game but as good as Doyle was on the other side, we needed a few more zeroes."

Elliott walked leadoff hitter Dean Curley to start the fifth, ending his day. He threw 43 of 82 pitches for strikes.

Morris gave up a double on his first batter, and a ground out scored the inherited runner. From there he retired 15 of the next 17 batters, putting together a great long relief effort for the second straight weekend.

"He was really good and we needed every bit of it obviously," Bianco said. "We needed something to give us a spark and he did."

The right-hander has allowed one earned run in his last 9.1 innings. In the five frames versus Tennesse, he struck out eight without a walk.

Elliott hasn’t gone six innings since February 21 and has given up 12 free passes (walks+HBP) in his last nine innings.

Nate Snead and Dylan Loy each got an out in the ninth for Tennessee.