The situation demanded near perfection from the Ole Miss baseball bullpen in its season opener at Hawaii as Friday night became Saturday morning. And the Rebels' relievers achieved it.

Mason Morris and Brayden Jones combined for 4.1 innings of one run-ball, and Mason Nichols held the Rainbow Warriors hitless in his 4.1 innings of work to get Ole Miss to the 13th inning, where Ethan Lege delivered an RBI single that put the Rebels ahead to stay in a 5-4 win.

Forced into action early when starter JT Quinn failed to escape the fourth inning, the Ole Miss bullpen gave the Rebels offense every chance to take control of a game that sat tied through the middle innings.

Ole Miss had at least one baserunner in every inning from the fourth onward after letting an early three-run lead slip. Until the decisive 13th inning, the Rebels scored only one of them. That came on Ethan Groff's sacrifice fly in the ninth, with the Rebels down a run and staring at a season-opening loss.

Four innings later, Lege ensured the Ole Miss relief effort received the win it deserved. Transfer Connor Spencer capped off the night with a scoreless bottom of the 13th.

Ethan Groff starts second Ole Miss baseball season strong

In addition to his productive out in the ninth, Groff delivered the first runs of the season for the Rebels by turning on an inside fastball and launching it over the left-field wall to give Ole Miss a 2-0 lead in the second inning, scoring Lege, who drove in a run with a single an inning later.

It was one of three hits for Groff, who bunted for a single and drove another base hit into left-center field. Lege also produced a three-hit night.

FAU transfer Jackson Ross delivered a multi-hit performance of his own with a pair of singles.

FULL UPDATES: Ole Miss baseball score updates vs. Hawaii: Live updates as Rebels begin season

JT Quinn's strong start turns sour

Sophomore starter JT Quinn looked like every bit of the Friday night arm the Rebels will ask him to grow into this season through three innings.

His fastball beat the Rainbow Warriors' bats through the zone, and his biting slider and sharp curveball seemed just about unhittable.

As young pitchers often do, though, Quinn engineered his own problems in the bottom of the fourth inning. After securing his sixth strikeout to begin the inning, Quinn walked a pair of Rainbow Warriors. A single brought one of them around to score.

Then Quinn compounded his problems with a defensive mistake, sticking his bare hand out to deflect a chopper up the middle that might have given Ole Miss an opportunity to turn a double play had he left it unimpeded. He scrambled to pick up the deflection and made an errant throw to first base as a second run scored. That marked the end of the night for Quinn, who saw one of the runners he left on base come around to score after his departure, charging him with three earned runs in 3.1 innings.

David Eckert covers Ole Miss for the Clarion Ledger. Email him at deckert@gannett.com or reach him on Twitter @davideckert98.

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This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Ole Miss baseball wins marathon season opener over Hawaii