Coach Bianco gives updates on injuries to Austin Simmons, Ethan Lege
OXFORD — After Ole Miss (25-23, 9-15 SEC) lost 12-9 to Murray State in midweek action Wednesday night, head coach Mike Bianco met with media and offered injury updates on two key players, pitcher Austin Simmons, and outfielder Ethan Lege.
Coach Bianco reported that Simmons, a dual-sport star who is also a quarterback in addition to being a left-handed pitcher, will go through rehabilitation on what has been diagnosed as a sprained UCL suffered April 25 against Alabama. He will not undergo surgery if all goes as planned during the rehab period.
“He won’t pitch the rest of the season for us. They’re going to rehab him and get him ready for summer workouts that they do in football and obviously for fall football.”
Coach Mike Bianco on Austin Simmons
Coach Bianco did not go into the medical designation regarding the degree of the injury; however, it would appear encouraging that Simmons is not having surgery and, instead, can have the option of rehabbing.
The true freshman should have been in the class of 2025, but reclassified two years to 2023 and joined the Rebel football program last season. He is expected to battle Walker Howard for the backup position to Jaxson Dart this fall.
This season in baseball Simmons has made appearances in 13 games, owning a 3.21 ERA, 20 strikeouts and 11 walks in 14 innings pitched. He has a .173 batting average against.
Ethan Lege out for this weekend’s matchup vs. A&M
Rebel outfielder Ethan Lege was hit by a pitch and fractured his thumb in the Governor’s Cup game against Mississippi State on May 1.
Coach Bianco said Lege, who has the highest batting average on the team at .323, will not be available to play in this weekend’s series against No. 3 Texas A&M.
“After meeting with doctors on Monday, Lege has — which we knew — a clean fracture of the thumb. But where he is, they wanted some bone growth and to see how he was. He was in some pain, obviously, over the weekend and didn’t play. He won’t play this weekend.”
Coach Bianco on Ethan Lege
He was unable to play in this past weekend’s series against Auburn or last night in the loss to Murray State.
“I don’t want to say the football day-to-day but week-to-week, I guess,” Bianco added.
Next Up:
Ole Miss hosts the Aggies this weekend at Swayze. Game one begins at 7:30 p.m. Friday. This will wrap up the home portion of the regular season schedule.
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.
