OXFORD — Ole Miss got off to an inauspicious start Friday night.

The Rebels rallied throughout the evening, but that feeling of impending dread hung over Swayze Field.

Sure enough, when it was over, Ole Miss had suffered a nightmarish 9-6 loss to Murray State, one that forces them into the losers’ bracket Saturday and within one loss of seeing its season come to an end.

“Obviously, it’s not the way we drew it up,” Ole Miss coach Mike Bianco said. “We didn’t play great, but I don’t want to take any credit away from them because they played well and they beat us.”

To make matters worse, Ole Miss used six pitchers Friday night, meaning the long path out of the losers’ bracket and to a regional title would have to happen with stressed arms.

Ole Miss will face Western Kentucky on Saturday at 1 p.m. Should the Rebels win, they would face the loser of Saturday’s winners’ bracket game between Murray State and Georgia Tech. Ole Miss would have to win twice Sunday to force a regional final Monday.

“We went for it, obviously,” Bianco said.

Bianco said once he and his staff elected to go with Riley Maddox instead of ace Hunter Elliott, they decided to “do whatever we need to do to win the game.”

On Friday, that meant Mason Morris throwing 54 pitches, Gunnar Dennis throwing 14, Will McCausland 33, Walker Hooks six and Connor Spencer 11.

“In this format, you have to win the first two to have an advantage,” Bianco said. “We went for it tonight and unfortunately, we weren’t good enough and got beat.”

Maddox gave us six hits and four runs in three-plus innings of work, walking three and striking out two.

“He had some bad fortune but also you could tell, the command wasn’t there,” Bianco said. “He wasn’t in the zone he normally he is, the way he has been the second half of the season for sure. Just a tough night for him.”

Bianco didn’t say so, but the Rebels (40-20) will almost assuredly go with Elliott against Western Kentucky Saturday. After that, others will have to step up.

“Somebody does it every year,” Bianco said. “Somebody loses Game 1 and makes it through. I like this club and I know they’ll stick together. I think you have to be careful of trying to look to the finish line and (instead) look to the next step and the next step is tomorrow against a Western Kentucky team.”

To get the finish line, the Rebels will have to play better than they did Friday night.

The first pitch Friday was hammered by Murray State’s Jonathan Howard over the center field wall. The Racers (40-13) scored two in the first inning and two more in the second to jump out to an early 4-0 lead.

A 453-foot blast by Judd Utermark with two on in the third inning cut the Rebels’ deficit to 4-3. Ole Miss took the lead an inning later, getting a solo shot from Campbell Smithwick and an RBI-single from Luke Hill to go ahead, 5-4.

Murray State, however, simply refused to go away. Will Vierling’s RBI-double tied the game at 5-5 in the top of the fifth. Carson Garner’s RBI-groundout allowed the Racers to re-take the lead at 6-5.

Will Furniss’ RBI single tied the game at 6-6 in the seventh inning, but again, it was Murray State that kept applying pressure.

Second baseman Dom Decker’s run-scoring single in the eighth gave Murray State a 7-6 lead. The Racers added two in the ninth on Dustin Mercer’s two-run double.

Ole Miss loaded the bases in the ninth, but Smithwick’s pop-up to Decker ended the game.

Jacob Hustedde (2-0) got the win for Murray State, giving up a hit and a walk in 2/3 inning of relief. McCuasland (2-1) took the loss, allowing a hit and three walks, leading to two runs (one earned) in his inning of work.

Graham Kelham picked up his fifth save of the season, scattering two hits and striking out three over the final two innings.

Ole Miss walked seven hitters, struck out 13 times and committed two key errors that led to two unearned runs for the Racers.

Nic Schutte gave up five hits and six runs in 6 1/3 innings for Murray State, throwing 119 pitches and willing his team to stay in the game.

“We weren’t able to get to the bullpen or put that chain together, that inning together,” Bianco said. “We got some baserunners and hit a home run a couple of times, but not that really explanation mark type of inning. We couldn’t put it together.”