Ole Miss one win from first Men's College World Series title after 10-3 win over Oklahoma in finals opener

OMAHA, Neb. — Ole Miss, one of the last four teams invited to the NCAA Men's Baseball Tournament, is now only one win away from being the last team standing.

Mississippi defeated Oklahoma, 10-3, in the first contest of the best-of-three MCWS finals, powered to the victory by an unlikely arm, relief pitcher Jack Dougherty. The sophomore out of Collierville, Tenn., was forced into service as a starter because the team's 1-2 aces had been used up in Mississippi's march to this championship series. The righty responded with his longest outing of the season, five innings of perfect baseball before leaving the mound in the sixth with a 4-1 lead and the bases loaded with no outs. His relief came by way of a freshman righthander Mason Nichols, who struck out five of the seven batters he faced in two innings of work and surrendered only one run, charged to Dougherty.

A trio Ole Miss pitchers — Dougherty, Nichols and sophomore Josh Mallitz, enjoyed an early-established cushion as their hitting teammates posted two runs in the top of the first and added one more each in the second and third innings. The last of those coming off the bat of fifth-year senior and emerging Oxford, Mississippi folk hero Tim Elko, who blasted his 24th homer of the season, the highlight of a 4-for-5 night at the plate, the first four-hit night for any MCWS batter since 2009.

When teammates T.J. McCants, Calvin Harris and Justin Bench blasted back-to-back-to-back homers in the top of the eighth, the first team to do that since LSU in 1998, the score was 8-2 and the game was essentially over.

Oklahoma squandered the opportunity of what looked like a huge on-paper mismatch, sending ace Jake Bennett to the mound with a week's worth of rest, having not pitched