Ole Miss Takes on No. 19 Alabama on the Road

By Adam Brown
Sports Editor
adam.brown@hottytoddy.com

Ole Miss baseball closes out the 2023 season this weekend on the road against the No. 19 Alabama Crimson Tide in a three-game SEC series. The series gets underway on Thursday at 4 p.m. and can be streamed on the SEC Network+.

Ole Miss (25-26, 6-21 SEC) got eliminated from the SEC Baseball Tournament in Hoover after being swept by No. 23 Auburn and Missouri sweeping Georgia last weekend.

This marks the first time that Ole Miss doesn’t make the SEC Tournament since 2011 and 2002 seasons.  

This season, the Rebels won one conference series as they took two-of-three from the Georgia Bulldogs at Swayze to close out the month of April.

Ole Miss has three batters hitting over .325 coming into the weekend led by Kemp Alderman with a .368 average and in home runs (19) and RBIs (60). Behind Alderman is catcher Calvin Harris (.327) with 12 home runs and 45 RBIs, third is shortstop Jacob Gonzalez at .326 with nine long balls and 50 RBIs.

Alabama rolls into the weekend with a 35-17 overall record and a 13-14 mark in SEC play. The Crimson Tide won the backend of the series out in College Station Texas to take the series over the Texas A&M Aggies.

Alabama is led this season at the dish by Tommy Seidl with a .357 batting average. His teammate Andrew Pinckney is right on his heels with a .353 average and is tied for the team lead in home runs (14) with Drew Williamson.

This weekend’s pitching matchup for the Rebels will be southpaw Xavier Rivas (Thursday), RHP JT Quinn (Friday) and Saturday is TBA. Alabama will send three right handers to the hill in Luke Holman (Thursday), Garrett McMillan (Friday) and Jacob McNairy (Saturday).

Last season, Alabama swept the Rebels in Oxford prior to that Ole had won four-straight series against the Crimson Tide.

Game times are set for Thursday at 4 p.m.  Friday at 6 p.m. and Saturday at 2 p.m. with all of them being streamed on the SEC Network+.