SHARE Tennessee baseball coach Dave Serrano discusses the Vols 3-2 win over Ole Miss on Friday, March 18, 2016, in Tennessee's SEC home opener at Lindsey Nelson Field in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Dustin Dopirak / News Sentinel)

By Dustin Dopirak of the Knoxville News Sentinel

Tennessee sent its worst-hitting starter to the plate with two outs and no one on in the bottom of the ninth inning against an Ole Miss reliever who hadn't given up a run this season.

But somehow, it made sense Friday night and the situation worked out in the Vols' favor.

Junior college transfer Max Bartlett drove a liner to left off Ole Miss left-hander Wyatt Short that one-hopped the wall for a double. The next batter, senior Derek Lance, lined a 1-1 pitch to center field for a single that brought Bartlett home to give Tennessee a 3-2 victory in its SEC opener in front of 1,555 at Lindsey Nelson Stadium. The hit created a mob scene around Lance that carried him from the base paths to short right field.

The Vols (12-5, 1-0 SEC) scored all of three of their runs with two outs. Their first two runs came in the sixth, when they also had two outs before they had a base-runner. The No. 12 Rebels (17-2, 0-1) suffered their first loss since falling 4-0 to Louisville on Feb. 27. The two teams play again Saturday at 4 p.m.

"Emotions are still running through me," Tennessee coach Dave Serrano said after the win. "I'm just so proud of our players. I talk about adversity, I talk about resiliency, I talk about fight and clawing to the end, and that's exactly what they did tonight."

Said Ole Miss coach Mike Bianco: "It's not about the hits, it's about the timely hits. Both innings we weren't able to get off the field."

Bartlett and Lance had the most timely hits, and Bartlett's was the most surprising. He came into the game hitting .208 and he went 0-for-3 to drop to .196 by the time he came to the plate in the ninth. Ole Miss starter Brady Bramlett struck out nine hitters in 5 2/3 innings, and he retired Bartlett twice.

"I had a rough night, man" Bartlett said. "I was getting jammed at the plate. They were working me in. The guy ... had a little get-up on his fastball. But being in that situation, I couldn't think about what I'd done in the past in the game. I just went up there and put a good swing on it."

Lance has been more successful this year, hitting .357 coming into the game, but he was 0-for-3 heading into the ninth and Bramlett had struck him out twice. However, he put that behind him quickly and ripped a fastball back up the middle.

"It's the greatest feeling," Lance said. "That's what you live for when you play baseball. When you're out there with your friends, you simulate hitting trying to hit a walk-off and that feeling. For that to come true on this level was amazing."

The Vols got a strong start from sophomore left-hander Zach Warren, who struck out a career-high eight batters in 6 1/3 innings on the day it was announced that he would play for Team USA in the summer. Warren gave up a run in the sixth on a sacrifice fly by Tate Blackman, but he left with the lead thanks to two Tennessee runs in the sixth.

With two outs and no one on, senior Vincent Jackson and junior Jordan Rodgers reached with-back-to-back singles. Junior Leno Ramirez then ripped a single to right that skipped off the glove of right fielder Cameron Dishon to bring in two runs. That hit ended the day for Bramlett, who only allowed one hit before the sixth.

Ole Miss tied the game in the eighth when junior J.B. Woodman cranked a 1-1 pitch from Tennessee reliever Jon Lipinski over the right field wall, but Bartlett and Lance made sure the Vols still began SEC play with a win.