ATHENS, Ga. – The Rebels out hit the Bulldogs on the night, but an early error proved costly as No. 25 Ole Miss (30-18, 11-11 SEC) fell to No. 8 Georgia (30-14-1, 16-5-1 SEC) by a score of 5-4 on Friday night at Foley Field.

Zach Miller led the Rebels at the plate with a 2-for-4 performance including his first home run of the season and two RBI. Fuller Smith also hit a home run to tie the game at four in the fifth.

Lance Lynn (6-2) suffered only his second loss of the season as he worked 6.1 innings, striking out four and walking two while allowing five runs. Only two of the runs were earned as Georgia pushed three runs across in the second following a fielding error.

Trevor Holder (7-2) picked up the win for the Bulldogs as he worked 5.1 innings, allowing four runs on eight hits with a walk and seven strikeouts. Joshua Fields entered the game in the ninth, picking up his 13^th save of the season as he walked one and struck out one, but kept the Rebels off the board.

“That was a great college baseball game, but one you expect when you have two divisional leaders going against each other,” said Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco. “It was a well played game by both sides except for that second inning by us. We left the door open and Georgia took advantage of their opportunities.”

Miller hit his first home run of the season to get the Rebels on the board in the second inning, taking a 3-2 pitch over the fence in right field to give Ole Miss a 1-0 lead.

Georgia answered in the bottom half as two runs scored on a double to left center from Matt Cerione. The double drove in Rich Poythress from third and Lyle Allen from first. Poythress was hit by a pitch to reach before stealing second. He moved to third on a fielding error at short that allowed Allen to reach base before the two-out hit from Cerione gave Georgia the 2-1 lead. A single through the left side from Michael Demperio scored Cerione and extended the Bulldog lead to 3-1.

Gordon Beckham pushed the Georgia lead to 4-1 in the third when he took the first pitch of his at bat out of the park in left field.

Ole Miss jumped right back into things in the fourth as three straight hits from Power, Overbeck and Matt Smith opened the inning to push a run across for the Rebels. Miller then grounded out to short, but pushed Overbeck across the plate to cut the lead to one at 4-3 and move Smith to second. The rally died, however, as the Georgia pitching staff struck out the next two batters looking to end the inning.

Fuller Smith tied the game at four in the fifth inning when the senior hit a solo shot to left field with two outs.

Georgia again responded in the bottom half of the inning, coming up with an RBI single with two outs from Bryce Massanari to score Olson from second. Olson singled before moving to second on a walk of Beckham.

The two teams would see a pitching duel down the stretch as neither team would score again and Georgia claimed the series opening win 5-4.

The Rebels and Bulldogs will take the field for the second game of the series at 2:00 p.m. CDT on Saturday at Foley Field. The game will be televised by ESPNU.