No. 23 Alabama Baseball Falls to Ole Miss in Back-and-Forth Battle, Forces Rubber Match

The Ole Miss baseball team evens the series against Alabama and forces a rubber match on Saturday.

Alabama Athletics

The No. 23 Alabama Crimson Tide (26-16, 8-12) baseball team lost the second game in the series against the Ole Miss Rebels (23-19, 7-13) 9-8 on Friday night at Swayze Field to force a rubber match. 

The Rebels struck first as the team scored three runs on an RBI double by Will Furniss in the bottom of the first inning and an RBI single by Luke Hill in the third. Eli Berch also brought in a run after he was walked with the bases loaded in the third. 

The Crimson Tide refused to go down without a fight and scored five unanswered runs. Justin Lebron and Will Hodo came up big in the rally as Lebron hit a solo home run in the top of the fourth and an RBI single in the fifth. Hodo hit a three-run home run in the fifth to put Alabama in front. 

The contest was a back-and-forth battle for the remainder of the game. Ole Miss responded with four runs in the home half of the fifth with a two-RBI single by Judd Utermark and a two-RBI by Andrew Fischer. The Crimson Tide, though, tied the game in the sixth with an RBI single by Ian Petrutz and an RBI double by Lebron. 

However it was the Rebels that finished the game on top. Ethan Lege and Furniss hit two consecutive solo home runs in the sixth to give Ole Miss the two-run advantage. The Crimson Tide tacked on an additional run in the seventh on a sacrifice fly by Mac Guscette, but the team was not able to complete a comeback. 

Right-handed pitcher Ben Hess started on the mound for the Crimson Tide. The junior allowed three hits, three runs (all earned), walked four batters, and struck out seven in four innings of work. Tyler Fay, Braylon Myers, and Aidan Moza made appearances out of the bullpen. 

For Ole Miss, left-handed pitcher Liam Doyle started on the mound. In his 4.1 innings pitched, Doyle allowed one run (earned) on three hits, walked two batters, and struck out five. JT Quinn, Gunnar Dennis, Mason Morris, and Connor Spencer made appearances out of the bullpen.