No. 15 Ole Miss Baseball Falls Short in Series Opener at No. 18 Alabama

TUSCALOOSA — The No. 15 Ole Miss Rebels dropped a dramatic series opener on Thursday night, 5-4, to the No. 18 Alabama Crimson Tide at Sewell-Thomas Stadium.

Action started quickly in Tuscaloosa; Dom Decker opened the scoring with a home run of the first pitch of the game to get Ole Miss ahead, but the Crimson Tide rallied in the bottom of the second with a leadoff double, and Justin Lebron followed that with a two-run home run to make it 2-1 Alabama after one.

Ole Miss responded in the second, putting a pair of runners in scoring position for Austin Fawley, who slapped an RBI single through the infield, scoring one and moving the other runner to third. Daniel Pacella, the runner on third, was out at the plate after a failed suicide squeeze, which would cut the Ole Miss inning short as a strikeout following ended the frame with a 2-2 tie.

The game turned towards the pitching side until the sixth inning, when Tristan Bissetta crushed a solo home run to lead off the frame and reinstate the Ole Miss lead, 3-2. Bissetta’s blast is his first since April 19 at Tennessee.

Rebels starter Hunter Elliott really settled in following the first-inning home run, getting through six innings relatively easily, and returned to the mound for the seventh, but he could not get an out, with an infield single leading off the inning, before an error allowed the second batter to reach. Elliott was then replaced on the mound, with no outs and runners on first and second.

Hudson Calhoun entered for Elliott and allowed a single to load the bases. Alabama would then tie the game when Bryce Fowler roped a first-pitch RBI single into right field. The Crimson Tide would take the lead just one batter later, when Lebron grounded into a fielder’s choice, allowing a run to score. Calhoun would go on to get a strikeout, but back-to-back walks extended the Alabama lead to 5-3 and ended his outing.

Landon Waters entered on the bump and produced a flyout to finally escape the inning.

Elliott’s line would close with 6+ innings pitched, 5 hits, 4 runs, 3 earned runs, 2 walks, and 8 strikeouts, moving him to 311 career strikeouts, putting him four strikeouts away from 100 on the season.

On the other side, Tyler Fay turned in a spectacular outing as well, going 7 innings, allowing 7 hits, 1 walk, 3 earned runs, but picked up 11 strikeouts with 115 pitches.

Matthew Heiberger took over on the mound for the Crimson Tide, beginning the eighth inning with a newfound lead, and punched out the side to keep the Crimson Tide ahead 5-3 with a chance for insurance into the ninth.

Ole Miss worked a quick bottom half of the inning defensively and headed into the ninth down 5-3, with Heiberger going back out to the mound.

Ole Miss scraped one across when Fawley smoked an RBI single into center field, but the Rebels were unsuccessful in tying the game as Heiberger picked up a strikeout to end it and secure the series opener for the Crimson Tide, 5-4, over Ole Miss.

A Look Ahead

The Rebels and Crimson Tide will continue the final weekend series of the regular season Friday at 5 p.m CT and Saturday at 2 p.m. CT. With the NCAA Tournament looming, Ole Miss will likely need to secure both games to put themselves into position to host a regional for the second straight year.