Ole Miss baseball closes out fall intrasquad season with win over Alabama
STAFF AND WIRE | In its final exhibition of the fall, Ole Miss baseball battled SEC foe Alabama, coming away with a 6-4 victory over the Tide on Saturday afternoon at Swayze Field.
The offense utilized the long ball in the victory, with TJ McCants, Jacob Gonzalez and Kevin Graham going yard. On the mound, Hunter Elliot looked sharp, striking out all three batters faced, while Jack Dougherty and John Gaddis each threw two shutout innings on the mound.
Derek Diamond got the starting nod against the Tide. After a quick first inning, Alabama struck first as Dominic Tamez took Diamond deep for a solo home run in the second. The Rebels, however, answered in the bottom half of the inning. With Hayden Dunhurst aboard, Banks Tolley knocked a double off the wall in left-center to put two in scoring position with one out. Hudson Sapp then drove in the equalizer on a sac fly to knot things up at one apiece.
Alabama threatened in the third with runners on the corners, but Dougherty fanned two batters and got Zane Denton to pop up to end the inning. He then picked up another punch-out in the fourth after the Rebels went down in order.
Drew McDaniel made quick work of the Tide in the fifth, picking up two strikeouts, but Ole Miss couldn’t break the tie in the bottom half. In the sixth, Alabama used a two-out RBI double to take the lead back, going up 2-1. Before both teams reset lineups at the halfway point, McCants and Gonzalez hit solo jacks a batter apart to put the Rebels back in the driver’s seat.
Jack Washburn took the mound for Ole Miss in the second half of the exhibition, starting the seventh inning. After recording the first two outs, a walk and a single down the right-field line turned into an Alabama run when the throw into second got away from the Rebels. Ole Miss threatened in the bottom half of the inning, but the Tide turned an inning-ending double play to walk away unscathed. Washburn returned to the mound, picking up two K’s to finish his afternoon.
Following a one-two-three inning on the mound for Alabama, Gaddis gave the Rebels two solid innings, only surrendering one hit and stranding two batters. A double-play ground ball bailed the Tide out in the bottom of the ninth, but Graham made them pay in the 10th when he blasted a two-run shot 430 feet to right.
Elliot struck out the side in the 11th inning, and Alabama got a run back in the 12th, but Ole Miss held strong to close out and win the ballgame, 6-4.
The Rebels are set to close out their fall season on Nov. 12 with the annual Pizza Bowl, and The Omaha Challenge is set for the following week, Nov. 15-19, before they depart for fall break. Stay tuned to the Ole Miss baseball social media channels for updated dates and times.
