The Rebel fans, still riled at Arkansas catcher Brian Walker for faking a pitch hit to the elbow in mid-May, made more noise than their numbers in the stands deserved as fifth-seeded Ole Miss made plenty of noise on the field with a 9-4 victory over the Razorbacks.

Walker himself picked up onlyone hit and plenty of boos, but the Rebels might as well have focused on Arkansas centerfielder Craig Gentry, whose two hits and two runs did a lot more damage than anything Walker accomplished. Perhaps he was humbled by his ejection when he struck out in Oxford -- either way, the Arkansas pitching couldn't help Walker, Gentry or the rest of the 'Backs out of the early hole Mississippi threw them into.

"It was a very tight strike zone for both teams tonight," Arkansas coach Dave VanHorn said. Too bad only the Rebels took advantage, with 12 hits to the Razrbacks' eight and a loss to Arkansa' Nick Schmidt.

Mississippi's C.J. Ketchum, did wax a bit poetic on the beautiful simplicity of the game: "We were trying to get good swings and put men on base like we always do. We got on top early today and were fortuntae to put runs up."

The recorded attendance of 12,838 last night was a new Session 2 record for the SEC tournament, but if a tenth of those people were in the stadium at game's end, I'd be surprised. There was a Taylor Hicks' American Idol victory to be celebrated after all, and I'm off to join them...