Ole Miss pitcher Austin Simmons leaves game one vs. Alabama with apparent elbow injury
OXFORD, Miss. — Ole Miss pitcher Austin Simmons left game one against Alabama Thursday night with an apparent left elbow injury.
The true freshman, also a quarterback on the Rebel football team, entered the game in the fourth inning in relief of starter Riley Maddox. He suffered the injury against the first batter he faced, grimacing in pain and shaking his left arm as he left the field.
After the game, a 12-0 run-rule loss to the Tide, head coach Mike Bianco told reporters Simmons will undergo an MRI on the elbow soon.
“Felt something in his elbow, so we got him out of there,” Bianco explained.
Simmons returned to the Ole Miss dugout in the sixth inning, but did not appear to be moving his left arm. Head football coach Lane Kiffin was seen walking into the clubhouse with Simmons.
The freshman phenom, who reclassified two years to enroll early at Ole Miss, looked very good in spring football practices and has been expected to be in a battle with Walker Howard for the backup spot to Jaxson Dart this coming fall.
But he’s also made his presence felt on the baseball diamond, appearing in 13 games thus far this season. He holds a 3.21 ERA and has notched 20 strikeouts and 11 walks in 14 innings.
Simmons’ last outing prior to Thursday night came against Georgia five days ago, when he pitched two times in the doubleheader. He took the mound in game one of the doubleheader and threw 2.2 innings and 24 pitches. In game two of the doubleheader, he threw 21 pitches, not giving up an earned run in either stint on the mound.
Coach Bianco told media that Simmons felt fine in his Wednesday throwing session.
“He did stuff at the football facility and threw a short work and always feels good. Those things aren’t chronic where they are sore, sore sore and something happens. Usually they don’t feel anything until something happens. We’ll know more once we get the test back.”
Mike Bianco on Austin Simmons
Ole Miss (22-19, 6-13 SEC) and Alabama (27-15, 8-11) resume the series on Friday at 6:30 p.m. CT.
Evelyn Van Pelt
Evelyn has covered sports for over two decades, beginning her journalism career as a sports writer for a newspaper in Austin, Texas. She attended Texas A&M and majored in English. Evelyn’s love for Ole Miss began when her daughter Katie attended the university on a volleyball scholarship. Evelyn created the Rebel Walk in 2013 and has served as publisher and managing editor since its inception.
