No. 15 Ole Miss had a chance to take its series from No. 18 Alabama in game three after splitting the first two games, 5-4 on Thursday and 9-0 on Friday, but it lost on Saturday, 6-2.
Starter Taylor Rabe led the Rebels to the game two victory with 4 ⅔ perfect innings and five no-hit frames. Will Furniss hit a three-run homer and drove in five runs in the win.
Ole Miss dropped a one-run game to open the series. A three-run seventh inning from the Tide led to a 5-4 Rebel defeat. The bats fell silent en route to the series loss on Saturday.
With the loss, the Rebels finished 15-15 in SEC play and will be the No. 9 seed in the SEC Tournament. They will begin the postseason on Tuesday, May 19 at 9:30 a.m. against No. 16 Missouri.
Game one
Hunter Elliott got the start for Ole Miss. He was coming off a solid bounce back performance against No. 10 Texas A&M.
Brett Moseley, who usually appears as a defensive replacement late in games, started in center field. Daniel Pacella started in the designated hitter spot.
Second baseman Dom Decker got Ole Miss started with a home run on the first pitch of the game.
Alabama leadoff hitter Bryce Fowler reached second on a ball that hit Elliott and, with the infield shifted to the right, went past third base. Justin Lebron took the lead for Alabama with a two-run home run.
Outfielder Hayden Federico singled to start the second. Pacella hit a long double that nearly cleared the wall to put runners on second and third. Catcher Austin Fawley delivered an RBI single to left field to tie the game, 2-2.
The Rebels attempted a suicide squeeze, but Moseley pulled back the bunt and Pacella was tagged out at the plate. Instead of having runners on the corners with one out, the Rebels had a runner on first with two outs. Moseley struck out to end the inning.
Elliott made a great bare-handed grab for the first out in the bottom of second. The chopper was to the right of the mound and he made the play with his momentum going to right field. He worked a quick 1-2-3 inning.
After a two-out walk in the bottom of the third, Decker committed an error to put runners on the corners. Tristan Bissetta erased the error and ended the threat with a diving catch in right field.
Elliott gave up a walk and a single to put runners on the corners with no outs in the fifth. He got the first out of the inning at second off a ball back to the mound. The runner on third was off the base and Decker threw to the bag for the tag-out. The runner beat the throw back, but slipped off the bag and, after review, the umpires determined he was out.
Instead of having runners on the corners with one out, Alabama had a runner on first with two outs — similar to the squeeze situation for the Rebels in the second.
Elliott ended the inning with a swinging strikeout to keep the game tied.
In the top of the sixth, Bissetta hit his first home run since April 19 to give Ole Miss a 3-2 lead. The homer went 442 feet to the Rebel bullpen in right center field.
Elliott went 1-2-3 in the sixth with two swinging strikeouts and a slick play from shortstop Owen Paino.
Alabama second baseman Brennan Holt hit a leadoff infield single in the seventh, then Luke Vaughn bunted and reached on a throwing error by third baseman Judd Utermark.
Hudson Calhoun came in for Elliott. The starter pitched six innings, allowed five hits, gave up three earned runs, walked two and struck out eight. He was lights-out after the first two batters of the game.
Calhoun surrendered a single to load the bases with no outs. Alabama tied the game with a single. In the next at-bat, Utermark got a force-out at third, but the Tide took the lead.
Calhoun walked the bases loaded to make it 5-3. Landon Waters came in hoping to end the disastrous inning. He did just that with a fly out.
Fawley got Ole Miss within one with an RBI single in the ninth, but pinch hitter Cannon Goldin struck out looking with runners on base to end the game.
Game two
Utermark reached on a one-out single in the first and Bissetta followed it up with a double to put two runners in scoring position. Furniss grounded out to score the first run of the game.
Rabe, who struck out 14 batters in his last appearance on Saturday, May 9, struck out six-straight batters to begin the game.
The Tide put their first ball in play with a line out to Bissetta in the third. Rabe snagged a comebacker for the second out. He got his seventh punch out to end the frame.
Paino extended the lead to 2-0 with a leadoff homer in the fifth. Decker singled and Bissetta walked to put two runners on. Furniss made it 5-0 with a three-run homer into the Rebel bullpen.
Rabe’s perfect game ended with a full-count, two-out walk in the fifth. He struck out his 11th batter to end the inning.
Fawley got his third hit of the series with a single in the sixth. Pacella pinch hit for Topher Jones and struck out to strand Fawley.
Alabama got its first hit of the game with a leadoff single in the bottom of the sixth. Rabe painted the corner with a fastball for his 12th strikeout and first out of the inning. He worked into his first jam of the game after hitting a batter to put runners on first and second.
The Rebels recorded the second out on a fielder’s choice. Utermark fielded a grounder, but his throw to second pulled Decker off the bag. Ole Miss could have ended the inning. Instead, they had two away with runners on the corners.
Rabe escaped the jam with his 13th strikeout to preserve the 5-0 lead. His day was done after that. Rabe pitched six innings, walked one, allowed one hit and struck out 13 on 88 pitches. He generated 25 swings and misses from the Tide.
JP Robertson came in for relief in the seventh. He gave up a two-out single, then slipped during his delivery and hit a batter, but induced a grounder for the third out.
Fawley stayed hot with a two-out, two-run homer to make it 7-0 in the eighth. He got every bit of a hanging breaking ball. Furniss drove in his fifth run of the game with a sacrifice fly in the ninth. Bissetta tacked on the ninth run of the game on a wild pitch.
Robertson stayed in for the ninth and worked a clean frame. Moseley, who came in as a defensive replacement in center field, made a sliding grab to seal the game two win. Rabe and Robertson combined to throw a two-hitter against the Tide.
Game three
The Tide struck first with an RBI double in the first. Starter Cade Townsend stranded a runner on second, but he was off his game early and had trouble locating his off-speed pitches.
Fawley got the first hit for the Rebels with a leadoff single in the third. Paino hit a long single that bounced off the wall to put runners on the corners.
Paino thought he had a homer and did not run hard out of the box. As a result, he was held to a single. Still, he turned around on an inside fastball to put Ole Miss in scoring position. Jones was then hit by a pitch to load the bases, so the mental error did not haunt the Rebels.
Decker singled the opposite way with two strikes to tie the game. Everybody moved up 90 feet to keep the bases loaded with no outs.
Bissetta nearly had an extra-base hit but just missed the pitch, instead taking the lead with a sacrifice fly, 2-1. Paino moved to third and Decker tried to take second after the throw to third was offline, but he was tagged out for the double play.
Although the Rebels could have had a couple more runs in the frame, the bottom of the order continued to have success. They all reached base and helped take the lead.
Townsend surrendered another hit to Alabama’s leadoff hitter in the bottom of the third. The Tide had a runner on second with the heart of the order coming up. Townsend got the next two batters out, but Alabama tied the game with an RBI single, 2-2.
To start the fourth, Townsend hit a man, surrendered a single and walked a batter. The top of the Alabama order came up with no outs. They took the lead with a sacrifice fly, 3-2. Both runners moved up to the next base.
Ole Miss was one out away from getting out of the jam, but Paino could not handle a well-struck hit. The ball went off of him and Alabama scored two runs, 5-2.
Calhoun came in to replace Townsend and ended the inning with a strikeout. Alabama tacked on a homer in the bottom of the fifth. Walker Hooks replaced Calhoun later in the inning and picked off the runner at first to end the frame.
Hooks was lights-out the rest of the way. He pitched 3 ⅓ innings, allowed two hits and struck out three.
The Rebels only managed one hit after the third, a double from Jones in the fifth, and lost game three 6-2.
What’s next?
No. 9 Ole Miss will face No. 16 Missouri on Tuesday, May 19 at 9:30 a.m. in Hoover, Ala., in the first game of the SEC Tournament. Pending a deep run in the tournament, the Rebels will be a two-seed in the NCAA Tournament.
