No. 17 Ole Miss Baseball completed the regular season with a series loss on the road against No. 15 Alabama. The Rebels dropped the first and third games by scores of 5-4 and 6-2, respectively, and won the second game, 9-0.
Austin Fawley is back
The Ole Miss catcher hit 21 homers last season and was an outstanding two-way player. This season has been a different story, but the junior has turned things around late in the season.
He ended the regular season on an eight-game hit streak to raise his batting average from a .201 to a .239. He collected 11 hits in that stretch, including three homers.
Fawley entered SEC play with a .167 average and just one homer. He stayed below or around the .200 mark until the Rebels faced Arkansas in late April. Since then, his production has soared; this month, he has 14 hits, six homers and only five strikeouts. In the series against Alabama, he drove in four runs and had five hits, including a homer.
Though Fawley bats towards the bottom of the order, he has the ability to get the offense rolling and keep a strong inning going. In the second inning in game one against the Crimson Tide, he delivered an RBI single to tie the game. He hit a two-run homer in game two to give the Rebels insurance. In game three, he got the first hit of the day for the Rebels and started a 2-run inning.
Miscues got in the way
The Rebels lost game one by a single run. One of the biggest mistakes in that game was a failed squeeze play in the second inning. After Fawley tied the game with his single, Brett Moseley came up to bat with runners on the corners and just one out.
Moseley squared around to bunt, then pulled back, but runner Daniel Pacella was already charging toward the plate from third, and the catcher easily tagged him out. Had Moseley laid down the bunt, Pacella could have had enough space and time to score.
There must have been a miscommunication. With the mistake, Ole Miss went from one out with a runner in scoring position to two outs with only a runner on first. Moseley then struck out to end the inning.
Alabama’s 3-run seventh inning, bolstered by another Rebel error, pushed the Crimson Tide to the win in game one. The frame started with a swinging bunt single by the Crimson Tide. The next batter laid down a bunt, which should have given Ole Miss a free out. However, Judd Utermark’s throw to first was low, and the batter reached safely.
The Rebels could have had one out with a runner on second. Instead, with the error, the Crimson Tide had two runners on with no outs.
The runner that reached on Utermark’s error scored the go-ahead run on a fielder’s choice, and Alabama scored what turned out to be the game-winning run on a walk later in the inning. Of the three runs Alabama scored that inning, only one was earned.
Another miscue hurt the Rebels in the third inning of game three. They were down 2-0 and had the bases loaded with two outs. Dom Decker singled to score one run, and on the next at-bat, Tristan Bissetta hit a sacrifice fly, which scored another runner and tied the game; however, on the same play, Decker attempted to advance to second and was picked off.
Because of the double play, the Rebels went from runners on the corners with one out to a runner on third with two outs. The Rebels did not score for the rest of the inning, and they only managed one hit in the rest of the game.
Time to worry about Cade Townsend?
The starting pitcher, who has been reliable for most of the season, did not get out of the fourth inning for his second straight start. Townsend had four strikeouts, but allowed five runs on seven hits. He also walked three batters.
His velocity was down and he could not seem to place any of his pitches consistently. He threw 87 pitches in 3 ⅔ innings.
His recent slump is reminiscent of Hunter Elliott’s back-to-back lackluster outings against Georgia and Arkansas. Elliott also did not get past the fourth inning in either of those games. However, Elliott has bounced back and delivered in his past two outings.
Townsend has impressed in his sophomore season and earned himself a solid draft position, but he will need to pick it back up for the Rebels to succeed in the postseason.
Fellow starters Elliott and Taylor Rabe have given the team good length and kept the Rebels alive in their recent starts. If Townsend can click again, the Ole Miss rotation will be one of the best in the SEC, if not one of the best in the nation.
