Alabama Baseball Bounces Back to Take Final SEC Series From Ole Miss

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- No. 18 Alabama got back on track on Saturday, defeating No. 15 Ole Miss 6-2 to take the rubber match in the final weekend series of the regular season. After being 2-hit shutout on Friday, the Crimson Tide offense bounced back, scoring early and often to claim their third consecutive SEC series victory.

Centerfielder Bryce Fowler and shortstop Justin Lebron opened Friday's game with back-to-back strikeouts. The pair set a different tone on Saturday as Fowler led off with a single into left field and Lebron brought him home, cracking the scoreboard with a double into the gap to give the Crimson Tide a 1-0 lead.

The Rebels responded to take the lead in the third inning, in the only shaky inning from freshman starting pitcher Myles Upchurch. Austin Fawley and Owen Paino opened the inning with singles and Upchurch hit Topher Jones to load the bases.

Dom Decker hit a single to tie the game at one run apiece, and Tristan Bissetta gave the Rebels the lead with a sacrifice fly. Alabama's defense caught Decker trying to advance, giving the Crimson Tide two outs. Upchurch buckled in and struck out Judd Utermark to end the inning and limit the Ole Miss damage.

Upchurch contained the Ole Miss offense throughout the rest of his start, allowing just a single Rebel batter to reach second base the rest of the game. He gave the Crimson Tide his season high in innings, seven, limiting the Rebels to just two runs on four hits with six strikeouts, two walks, and one hit batter.

"We talked about it in here last night, like, what does Myles need to do tomorrow?" Alabama head coach Rob Vaughn said. "And I said, go be Myles, and that's what you saw today. This was not him trying to do extra. This was not him trying to feel like he had to do more. It was him extremely comfortable in his ability and what he can do, and just being elite. That is a scary lineup and what an incredible job, and obviously, Bryce [Fowler], like when that dude plays the way he played, we don't lose. That was an incredible game by him, setting the tone in the first with a really good at-bat against Townsend and then coming around to score. All in all, just an awesome game to finish the regular season. Now we kind of turn our attention, right? We put ourselves in a position to make a run in the SEC championships. We've got to get rested, recovered, and go send it Thursday night in Hoover."

Fowler started the action again in the third inning, leading off with a double to right field, and catcher John Lemm brought him home four batters later with a two-out single to tie the game at 2-2. The senior finished with three hits and scored two runs with one RBI.

The Crimson Tide wrangled control of the rubber match in the fourth inning as Brennan Holt got on base to lead things off. Luke Vaughn singled through the infield to get two on with no outs. Cade Townsend walked Peyton Steele to load the bases, setting up Fowler to break the tie.

Fowler hit a sacrifice fly to put Alabama in front, and Townsend got the second out by striking out Lebron. The Crimson Tide kept coming, though, as Brady Neal took an intentional walk to load the bases and Jason Torres came up with the key hit to make the Rebels pay, scoring two runs and giving Alabama a 5-2 lead.

"You guys know how I feel about that guy [Jason Torres], and that guy's taken some flack at times this year and there was nobody more deserving in that moment than JT," said Vaughn. "It was just such a cool moment of, we said it when he came up, it was like this is the senior moment we've been waiting for with him and to see him come through for us, it gets you a little bit emotional in those moments."

Freshman Eric Hines added an insurance run in the fifth, hitting his seventh home run of the season over the centerfield wall to make the score 6-2.

Alabama reliever Ashton Crowther took the ball from Upchurch in the eighth and continued what the freshman started. Crowther struck out two and walked one, allowing Ole Miss just a single baserunner over the last two frames.

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