The University of Mississippi Athletics
Game 2: Ole Miss 5, Alabama 4
4/8/2017 | Baseball, Blog
Ole Miss didn't play its cleanest game, but sometimes wins like on Saturday are the most important. They battled back from a three run deficit and won a game despite committing four errors. The pitching staff found a way to strand runners on base and keep Alabama from breaking the game open. Alabama never managed more than one run in any frame because of the way the staff stemmed the bleeding when Alabama had chances. Obviously, that led to Tate Blackman coming to bat in a tie game in the ninth inning and launching one into the seats for the series win.รย
Player of the Game: Will Stokes. After back-to-back singles to open the seventh inning, Alabama looked primed to take back the lead after Ole Miss had tied it up in the bottom half of the sixth. Mike Bianco turned to Stokes to navigate out of the jam. A sacrifice bunt followed by an intentional walk loaded the bases up for the Crimson Tide with one out. Ole Miss really couldn't afford to give the lead immediately back to Alabama, and Stokes delivered in a big way. He struck out the next two Tide batters and the game stayed deadlocked. After some struggles this year, getting out of that jam in the dominant fashion that he did has to be good for confidence moving forward. He gave way to Dallas Woolfolk after allowing a hit with an out in the eighth, but his escape in the seventh was a game changer. รย
Number of the Game: .125. Alabama had no shortage of chances to break the game open, but that never happened. In 16 plate appearances with a runner on base, Alabama managed just two hits for a .125 average. That includes a 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position. Through the first two games of the series, Alabama is hitting .115 (3-for-26) with runners on base.รย
Quotable: "The inning before he started me off with a slider in," Tate Blackman said. "I was looking for something middle-in. I picked a zone. He brought one in. That was the zone I was looking for. I stuck to my plan and went after it."
