Ole Miss Baseball Blasted By Alabama in Run-Rule Rout to Open Series

The Ole Miss Rebels showed little life on Thursday night in a run-rule loss to the Alabama Crimson Tide.

Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco (5) makes a pitching change against Mississippi State at Swayze Field. / Bruce Newman/Special to the Clarion

Thursday night went poorly for the Ole Miss Rebels in multiple aspects. On one hand, they were run-ruled by the No. 23 Alabama Crimson Tide 12-0 in seven innings; on the other, two-sport athlete Austin Simmons went down with an apparent injury.

The Rebels (22-19, 6-13 SEC) flirted with trouble in the early innings, allowing a pair of Tide baserunners to reach safely in each of the first three frames, but it was the third inning that saw Alabama break through and claim a 1-0 lead.

The Crimson Tide would strike for a whopping nine runs in the fourth inning to put the game out of reach, and two runs in the fifth secured the ultimate final score. Alabama collected 16 hits off of Rebel pitchers on Thursday night, two of which were three-run home runs.

Eight of the Tide's starting nine had at least one hit in the win, and three players had three RBIs on the night.

It was during that fateful fourth inning that Ole Miss starting pitcher Riley Maddox (L, 2-6) exited the game, giving way to football and baseball star Austin Simmons. Simmons stayed on the mound for four pitches before exiting the game with an apparent injury, giving way to Mitch Murrell who was tabbed for seven earned runs in 0.2 innings of work.

Sophomore righty Ryne Rodriguez closed things out on the hill with three complete innings that saw two hits surrendered.

With the difficult loss behind them, the Rebels have their backs against the wall for the remainder of the weekend, and they will look to get back on track in Friday night's Game 2. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. CT, and the game will be televised on SEC Network+.