No. 18 Alabama baseball took two out of three games against No. 15 Ole Miss, earning its sixth SEC series win for the first time since 2006 and its highest seed in the SEC Tournament since 2009.
Game 1: Alabama 5, Ole Miss 4
The Crimson Tide took down the Rebels 5-4 in a back-and-forth contest.
The Rebeles wasted no time getting the scoring started as Dom Decker crushed a solo shot to right on the first pitch of the ballgame, giving them a 1-0 lead.
The Crimson Tide responded in the bottom half of the inning as shortstop Justin Lebron demolished a two-run bomb to left center, giving them a 2-1 lead.
In the top of the second, the Rebels evened the score at 2-2 thanks to an RBI single from Austin Fawley. The game remained tied until the top of the sixth when Tristan Bissetta crushed a solo homer to right, giving the Rebels a 3-2 lead.
The Crimson Tide took a 5-3 lead in the bottom of the seventh thanks to an RBI single from center fielder Bryce Fowler, an RBI fielder’s choice from Lebron and a bases-loaded walk from catcher John Lemm.
Left-hander Matthew Heiberger replaced Crimson Tide starting pitcher Tyler Fay on the mound in the top of the eighth inning and struck out the side in order. Fay tossed seven innings, allowing seven hits, three runs, walking one and striking out 11 on 115 pitches.
“I think the change-up and the slider, the first couple of innings especially, were really, really working,” Fay said. “And just kind of keeping the ball down, mixing that way. But I think that the change-up was getting a lot of whiffs. And being able to land the slider and kind of throw it in on the lefties, I was able to get a lot of swing and miss with that.”
Heiberger came back out for the top of the ninth inning and surrendered a two-out RBI single to Fawley to make it a 5-4 ballgame and putting the tying run on second base. Heiberger would settle in and pick up a strikeout to end the ballgame,clinching a first-round bye in the SEC tournament for the Crimson Tide.
“Matty’s been awesome for us,” said associate head coach Jason Jackson, who was filling in for head coach Rob Vaughn due to him being under the weather. “And when you get length on a Friday night, out of Fay, it really shortens the game for that bullpen. So it’s good to be able to use Matt for two, and you didn’t have to use Hagan (Banks) or some of these other guys. And so now those guys will hopefully be available as the weekend goes on.”
Game 2: Ole Miss 9, Alabama 0
The Crimson Tide was shut out 9-0 in the second game of the series to set up a crucial rubber game.
The Rebels struck first in the top half of the first inning with an RBI groundout from Will Furnis, giving them a 1-0 lead. The Rebels made it a 5-0 game in the top of the fifth inning with a solo shot from Owen Paino and a three-run bomb from Furnis.
Right-hander Sam Mitchell replaced Crimson Tide starter Zane Adams on the mound in the top of the sixth, picking up two outs and allowing a single. Left-hander Evan Steckmesser took over for Mitchell and picked up the final out of the frame. Adams fired five innings, surrendering six hits, five runs, walking three and striking out seven on 95 pitches.
Steckmesser came back out for the top of the seventh and worked a 1-2-3 inning with a couple of strikeouts. Steckmesser came back out for the eighth inning and surrendered a two-run home run to Fawley deep to left field, making it a 7-0 game. Austin Morris took over for Steckmesser with two outs and a runner on first and picked up a strikeout to end the top of the eighth.
In the top of the ninth, Morris, Connor Lehman and Zach Kittrell combined to give up two runs on a Furniss sacrifice fly and a wild pitch from Kittrell to make it 9-0.
Designated hitter Eric Hines, Lemm and third baseman Jason Torres went down in order in the bottom of the ninth inning to end the ballgame.
Game 3: Alabama 6, Ole Miss 2
The Crimson Tide took down the Rebels 6-2 to win the series and secure its highest seed in the SEC tournament since 2009.
In the bottom of the first inning, the Crimson Tide jumped out to an early 1-0 lead thanks to an RBI double in the left-center gap from Lebron.
The Rebels responded in the bottom of the third with an RBI single from Decker and a sacrifice fly from Bissetta, giving them a 2-1 lead.
Lemm evened the score at 2-2 in the bottom of the inning thanks to a two-out RBI base knock to right field. In the bottom of the fourth, the Crimson Tide tacked on three runs to take a 5-2 lead thanks to a sacrifice fly from Fowler and a two-out two-run single from Torres.
Hines demolished a 403-foot moonshot to dead center field, leading off the bottom of the fifth inning and extending the Crimson Tide’s lead to 6-2.
Left-hander Ashton Crowther replaced Crimson Tide starting pitcher Myles Upchurch in the top of the eighth and worked a 1-2-3 inning. In the biggest start of the freshman Upchurch’s career with the Crimson Tide, needing a win to clinch a double-bye in the SEC Tournament, he delivered an absolute gem. Upchurch tossed seven innings, allowing four hits, two earned runs, walking two and striking out six on 101 pitches.
“Just command of my heater, that’s just like the biggest thing,” Upchurch said. “If I have that going, it’s a lot easier to get guys out. Yeah, command of a heater, just make some pitches for strikes, pretty much. I mean, any game, really, you do those things, you put yourself in a good spot to be successful.”
Crowther came back out for the ninth and worked a scoreless frame to end the ballgame, giving the Crimson Tide a series win and clinching a top-4 seed and a double bye in the SEC Tournament.
The Crimson Tide will now face off against either Kentucky, Vanderbilt or Florida in the quarter finals of the SEC Tournament on Thursday. The game can be streamed on the SEC Network, and the first pitch is slated for 7 p.m. CT.
