OXFORD, Miss. – The University of Maine baseball team played outstanding baseball against Mississippi Friday night in its debut at the NCAA Tournament’s Oxford Regional.

What the Black Bears couldn’t do was generate any momentum to quiet the partisan crowd of 6,701 Ole Miss fans and plant any doubt in the Rebels’ minds.

Righthander Mark Holliman, a likely draft pick next week, pitched an efficient six-hit shutout and Ole Miss kept the pressure on with a 12-hit attack while posting a 5-0 victory at Swayze Field.

“Certainly, the story of the game was Mark Holliman,” said Mississippi coach Mike Bianco. “I don’t know if it was his best stuff, but you’ve got to give Maine a lot of credit. They kept attacking and swinging.”

In Friday’s opener, third-seeded Oklahoma edged No. 2 Southern Mississippi 5-4.

UMaine, the No. 4 seed at 34-18, faces No. 2 Southern Mississippi (41-20) in today’s 2 p.m. elimination game.

“Any time you play good baseball against a team like Ole Miss, any competitive team, it really bodes well for your next game coming up,” said senior captain Aaron Izaryk.

The top-seeded Rebels (45-18) play No.3 Oklahoma (34-24), a 5-4 winner over Southern Miss, in a 6 p.m. winners’ bracket contest.

Coach Paul Kostacopoulos’ Black Bears accorded themselves well, hitting the ball hard and playing errorless ball while turning three double plays.

“It was a good college baseball game and they did what they needed to do to win the game,” Kostacopoulos said. “I think we played exceptional defense and that’s been a bugaboo for us all year.”

Holliman (8-4) struck out three and walked one, allowing only two UMaine runners to reach scoring position. Ole Miss turned three double plays.

“I was able to make pitches when I needed to but ultimately the defense, the way they played tonight, kept us in the game and kept them from scoring,” Holliman said.

Junior Greg Norton (9-4) took the loss for the Bears, working 5 2/3 solid innings. The righty from South Portland got the start because Steve Richard needed another day of rest following two outings in the America East tournament.

Norton, pitching in sultry conditions for the first time since March, credited the Rebels with making his night a tough one.

“To tell you the truth, I did get a little tired,” he said. “It was tough to fall behind those type of hitters and expect to get them out when you have to throw them strikes. I’ve never really seen a breed of hitters like these guys. They were impressive.”

Scott Robinson came on in the sixth, setting a UMaine single-season record with his 27th appearance. He allowed one hit and one run in 2 1/3 innings, bettering the mark set by Garrett Quinn in 1996.

UMaine threatened quickly against Holliman. With one out, Greg Creek singled to left and moved up on Joel Barrett’s pop-fly single down the right-field line. Ryan Quintal hit a cue-shot to third base for an inning-ending double play.

Ole Miss grabbed a 1-0 lead in the first. Chris Coghlan stroked a one-out single to center and advanced on a wild pitch in the dirt. Brian Pettway plated the run with a sharp single to center.

“I thought it was important for us to score first,” Bianco said. “It got the crowd into it. It took us some 11, 12, 13 innings last year to score and get on the board.”

Izaryk led off the UMaine second with an opposite-field single to left, but was erased when Matt McGraw’s hot grounder to third base led to a 5-4-3 double play.

The Rebels threatened in the second and third innings. In the second, with the bases loaded, Norton won a seven-pitch duel with Justin Henry, inducing an inning-ending 6-4-3 double-play grounder.

With one out in the third, Norton hit Pettway with a pitch, then Stephen Head singled to right. The inning ended as Mark Wright flied out to left and Head was cut down trying to take second on the throw home, which was cut off by third baseman Curt Smith.

“If the defense didn’t play that way, it could have been a blowout tonight,” Norton said.

UMaine wasted its final scoring chance in the fourth as Creek laced a leadoff double down the right-field line, but didn’t advance past third.

Misssissippi made it 2-0 in the fourth, but not before UMaine recorded a 1-4-2 double play. Barry Gunther reached on a fielder’s choice, Miles Franklin singled and Henry grounded an RBI single to right-center.

The Rebels scored twice in the sixth, chasing Norton on Franklin’s sacrifice fly and Henry’s RBI single. They added a run in the eighth on a single, a hit batsman, a walk and Coghlan’s run-scoring groundout.

Oklahoma 5, Southern Miss. 4

Kody Kaiser sparked a three-run fifth inning with a two-run homer to lead Oklahoma to a 5-4 victory over Southern Mississippi.

Eric Thornton also homered and drove in two runs for the Sooners (34-24).

The Golden Eagles (41-20) made things interesting in the bottom of the ninth. Chris Matesich made it a one-run game with a one-out, solo homer off closer Will Savage, and Kevin Coker singled two batters later to bring the winning run to the plate. But Savage got Marc Maddox to ground out to end the game.

Oklahoma starter Daniel McCutchen (4-5) settled down after a rocky first three innings in which allowed three runs.

REBELS 5, BLACK BEARS 0

Maine (34-18) Ole Miss (45-18)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Hough, cf 4 0 0 0 Henry, dh 4 0 2

Creek, dh 4 0 3 0 Coghlan, 3b 4 1 1

Barrett, 1b 4 0 1 0 Pettway, rf 3 0 1

Quintal, lf 4 0 0 0 Head, 1b 5 0 0

Izaryk, c 3 0 1 0 Wright, lf 4 0 0

Smith, 3b 3 0 0 0 Presley, lf 0 0 0

McGraw, rf 2 0 1 0 Osteen, 2b 3 1 0

Ferriggi, 2b 3 0 0 0 Cozart, ss 3 2 0

Vallee, ss 3 0 0 0 Gunther, c 2 1 0

Franklin, cf 1 0 1 1

Totals 30 0 6 0 Totals 29 5 12 5

Maine 000 000 000 – 0

Mississippi 100 102 01x – 5

LOB-Maine 4, Ole Miss 11; 2B-Creek; Osteen; DP-Vallee-Ferriggi-Barrett, Quintal-Smith-Ferriggi, Norton-Vallee-Izaryk; Coghlan-Head; Coghlan-Osteen-Head, Cozart-Osteen-Head; S-Gunther, Franklin; SF-Franklin

Maine IP H R ER BB SO

Norton (L,9-4) 5 2/3 11 4 4 3 1

Robinson 2 1/3 1 1 1 2 0

Ole Miss IP H R ER BB SO

Holliman (W,8-4) 9 6 0 0 1 3

HBP-Pettway by Norton, Coghlan by Robinson, Gunther by Robinson; WP-Norton 2; BK-Norton; T-2:19; ATT-6,701