OXFORD, Miss. -- The magical comebacks continued for the Rebels on Friday as Evan Button came up with an RBI single in the eighth to give No. 15 Ole Miss (20-8, 6-4 SEC) a 4-3 win over Kentucky (18-10 4-6 SEC) at Oxford-University Stadium/Swayze Field.

Button’s single drove in the go-ahead run after Logan Power scored from second on a throwing error by Kentucky third baseman Andy Burns on a fielder’s choice from Matt Smith. Burns threw high to second in an attempt to get out the Rebels Taylor Hashman, but the ball sailed into right field and allowed Hashman to reach safely and Power to score, while keeping the rally alive for the Rebels.

Phillip Irwin (5-1) picked up the win as he worked a career-long 8.0 innings and allowed three runs on seven hits with seven strikeouts. Jake Morgan picked up his second save as he entered in the ninth and struck out all three Kentucky batters he faced to seal the win.

Logan Darnell (3-1) suffered the loss for the Wildcats as he worked 0.1 innings in relief and gave up the one run and a walk.

“I thought both starting pitchers were tremendous tonight,” said Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco. “Meyer was outstanding. I am certain that was his best outing of the year. He’s prone to walks but he walked only one tonight. He had a good breaking ball and just dominated us.

“The good news for us is that Phillip Irwin was pretty sharp tonight too, with the exception of the one inning, and he held them down. Evan Button had a great night and we had some good fortune, but that was one of the few balls we pulled off Meyer. When you do good things, sometimes it will just fall in for you.”

Kentucky jumped on the board early with three runs in the third as the Wildcats used back-to-back singles to put two men on before an RBI double from Andy Burns put Kentucky on the board. Two batters later, Gunner Glad then singled up the middle to drive in another two runs and the Wildcats were up 3-0.

Ole Miss got on the board in the fifth when Matt Smith scored on a two-out single from Jordan Henry. Smith walked to open the inning and moved to third on a double from Button before scoring on the Henry hit.

The Rebels continued to chip away in the seventh when Zach Miller hit his second home run of the season to open the frame and cut the lead to one.

Ole Miss then came up with the big plays again in the bottom of the eighth to capture the fourth-straight win and open the weekend series with a victory. It is the first time Ole Miss has won four straight Friday night games in SEC play since the 2004 season when Ole Miss posted a stretch of five straight Friday night wins to open conference play.

The Rebels and Wildcats will face-off again on Saturday at 4 p.m. at Oxford-University Stadium/Swayze Field.