OXFORD, Miss. (Interstat) — Judd Utermark and Tate Sirmans homered to power the Mississippi Rebels past the Evansville Purple Aces 7-2 in the first game of a doubleheader on Friday.

Evansville took a brief 2-0 lead in the second inning on back-to-back solo home runs by Reid Haire and Ximi Baftiri off starter Hunter Elliott. Mississippi responded with a run in the third and tied it on Will Furniss’ RBI single. Sirmans gave the Rebels the lead for good with a solo homer in the fourth, and Utermark added another in the fifth.

Reliever Hudson Calhoun, the top star, dominated with four scoreless innings, allowing one hit and striking out nine to secure the win. The Rebels piled up 15 hits. Evansville managed only five hits total and fell to 3-9. Mississippi improved to 13-2.