Nine-Run Fourth Inning Gives No. 23 Alabama Baseball First SEC Road Win of Season

The Alabama baseball team wins the series opener with a run rule victory over the Ole Miss Rebels.

The No. 23 Alabama Crimson Tide (27-15, 8-11) baseball team won its first SEC road game of the year with a shutout win over the Ole Miss Rebels (22-19, 6-13) 12-0 on Thursday night at Swayze Field. 

Small ball is how the Crimson Tide started the game as the team hit four singles in the first two innings of the night, however failed to produce a run and stranded runners on the corners in both the first and second.

The third inning saw firsts for both teams. Alabama scored its first run of the evening on an RBI single by Kade Snell, while Ole Miss recorded its first hit on a leadoff single by Judd Utermark.

Rebels right-handed pitcher Riley Maddox went 3.1 innings and allowed five runs (four earned), on nine hits. Austin Simmons entered the game in relief of Maddox, but exited the game with an injury four pitches into his outing. Mitch Murrell and Ryne Rodriguez pitched the remainder of the game. 

The Crimson Tide broke the game open in the fourth, scoring nine runs. The rally started with Mac Guscette getting hit by a pitch. After Bryce Eblin flew out for the first out of the inning, Gage Miller and Ian Petrutz hit back-to-back doubles, bringing in two runs. Will Hodo and Mac Guscette both hit 3-run home runs, and Snell hit an RBI single.

Alabama scored two additional runs in the fifth on an RBI single by TJ McCants and an RBI groundout by Snell. 

The Rebels offense recorded six hits in total. The rest of the team’s hits include a single by Andrew Fischer and a double by Luke Hill in the fourth, a single by Ethan Groff in the sixth, a single by Jackson Ross and a double by Will Furniss in the seventh. 

Left-handed pitcher Greg Farone started on the mound for the Crimson Tide. The senior pitched a complete game, the first of the year for any Alabama pitcher. Farone allowed six hits and struck out six.