Alabama Baseball Bats Go Ice Cold In Game Two Loss To Rebels

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- No. 15 Ole Miss evened the weekend series in Tuscaloosa as starting pitcher Taylor Rabe dominated No. 18 Alabama en route to a 9-0 Rebels win on Friday night.

"The story of the day was Taylor Rabe," Rob Vaughn said. "I watched on video. I saw his outing against Texas A&M. I knew how good he was capable of being. He hadn't kind of consistently done that thoughtout the year. But gah-lee, that was some real stuff tonight. We've seen some good ones this year. We saw [Dylan] Volantis, we've seen some elite arms. That might be the best effort I've seen in 15 years from a starting pitcher. It wasn't chase. It was all in-zone, just really elite stuff, just beat us in the zone a lot tonight. We just couldn't get anything going."

Rabe took the mound in Sewell-Thomas Stadium under pressure as Ole Miss and Alabama battled for SEC Tournament seeding and the right to potentially host an NCAA regional next month. The sophomore stepped up, striking out 11 of the first 16 batters Alabama sent to bat. The Crimson Tide bats didn't make contact until the third inning, and didn't have a base runner until third baseman Jason Torres drew a two-out walk in the fifth inning.

Ole Miss opened the game in almost the same fashion as Thursday's contest, as Judd Utermark hit a one-out single, Tristan Bissetta smacked a double off the right field wall and Will Furniss' sacrifice ground ball scored Utermark, giving the Rebels a 1-0 lead before starting pitcher Zane Adams could settle in.

Adams did settle in, striking out Hayden Federico to end the first inning. The Crimson Tide junior managed three scoreless innings before running into trouble in the fifth inning. Owen Paino opened the frame with a solo home run, taking the Ole Miss lead to 2-0. Dom Decker singled, and Bissetta drew a two-out walk, setting up the knockout punch. Furniss stepped into the batter's box and hit a three-run home run into the Ole Miss bullpen, giving the Rebels a 5-0 lead. Adams finished with five innings of work, striking out seven batters and allowing five runs on six hits with three walks.

The Crimson Tide offense came up with its first hit of the day in the sixth inning as Luke Vaughn led off with a single into the outfield. Bryce Fowler got hit by Rabe, putting men on first and second with one out. Shortstop Justin Lebron stepped into the batter's box looking to keep the inning going, but grounded into a fielder's choice, and Rabe ended the threat by striking out Brady Neal.

Rabe completed six innings, striking out 13 Alabama batters and giving up just one hit with one walk and hitting one Crimson Tide batter. The Rebels turned to JP Robertson in the seventh, but the song remained the same. The Rebels reliever finished the final three innings, striking out two batters, while giving up one hit with one walk and one hit batter.

Ole Miss added insurance runs in the eighth inning as Collin Reuter found a two-out single off reliever Evan Steckmesser. Austin Fawley made Alabama pay in the next at-bat, launching a two-run home run over the left field fence. Furniss found his fifth RBI of the night in the ninth with a sacrifice fly off Connor Lehman. The Crimson Tide turned to senior Zach Kittrell to finish things, but he struggled with control, and the Rebels added a ninth run on a wild pitch.

Alabama Baseball Remaining Games (all times CT)

Saturday, May 16 - Ole Miss - 2 p.m.

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