No. 15 Ole Miss lost a back and forth game with the No. 18 Alabama Crimson Tide on Thursday in a 5-4 decision in the first game of the final regular season SEC series.
The Rebels (35-19, 14-14 SEC) scored first with a solo dinger in the first inning by Dom Decker, but the Tide (36-17, 17-11) with a two run shot of its own in the bottom half of the inning. Ole Miss would tie things up at 2-2 with an Austin Fawley RBI single in the top of the second before Rebel ace Hunter Elliott and Alabama’s Tyler
Fay went inning for inning posting zeroes with the game knotted.
Ole Miss led briefly when Tristan Bissetta hit a solo home run in the top of the sixth, but Alabama rallied in the bottom of the seventh with three runs of its own as the bullpen struggled to find the strike zone.
In the top of the ninth, Fawley came through again with another RBI single, and the Rebels had runners on base threatening to take back the lead down 5-4. Alabama closer Matthew Heiberger earned his fourth save of the year however working two innings with five strikeouts to finish off Ole Miss.
You’re reading this post, so you likely already know how damn important this game was for the Rebels to get a hosting bid later this month in the NCAA Tournament. I’m now beginning to think even with a series win it may not be enough without some more help at the SEC Tournament or from other teams in the hunt for those sites.
The good news is obviously the team is solidly a lock to make the national tournament, and they will be a two seed no one wants to face. This is baseball and anyone can get hot at any time as this team proved in the middle of this season when it revived itself from a 3-6 start to SEC play.
There’s also SEC Tournament seeding to be decided as well with Ole Miss currently sitting at ninth in the SEC standings. The top four seeds get a double bye, and the following fifth through eighth seeds get a single bye. Again, this is a huge series and winning the next two are damn important.
Friday’s first pitch is set for 6 p.m. CT with Ole Miss starting Taylor Rabe (3-3, 4.56 ERA) on the mound. He will face lefty Zane Adams (6-3, 4.04 ERA) for the Tide. In Adams’ last outing, he went six innings and gave up five runs to South Carolina, so he’s either due for a better night or the Rebs may run him off the field early.
You can stream game two of this series on SEC Network+, but I’d advise having some cold beers at the ready.
