Ole Miss Eliminates Alabama, 9-2
5/27/2006 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
HOOVER, Ala. -- A red-hot Ole Miss offense collected 14 hits in a 9-2 win over the No. 6 University of Alabama baseball team to remain unbeaten in Southeastern Conference tournament play.
Ole Miss (39-20) breezed through its bracket with a 3-0 record and will play in the championship game for the second year in a row on Sunday at 3 p.m.
Alabama (41-19), who has made the SEC Tournament semi finals nine time in its 10 trips to the tourney under head coach Jim Wells, was eliminated from the tournament. Ole Miss also eliminated Alabama last year from the tournament.
First baseman C.J. Ketchum went 4-for-4 with one RBI to lead the Ole Miss attack. Second baseman Justin Henry, shortstop Zack Cozart, center fielder Alex Presley and right fielder Mark Wright had two hits apiece for the Rebels.
Wright led the Rubles with three RBI, including a two-run single in a four-run, second inning. Presley added two RBI in the win.
"Ole Miss is a real good team," Wells said. "They are playing really well right now. We caught them at a good time earlier this year, but they are better. They lost a lot (of players off last year's team), but they are real good. They handled us pretty well today."
Ole Miss wasted little time against Davis as the Rebels scored four runs on four hits in the second inning to take a 4-0 lead. Presley led off the inning with a solo home run to right field. It was his sixth home run of the season. Wright drove in two runs with a single up the middle and Henry's ground out to first base gave the Rebels a four-run lead.
Things did not fare much better for Davis in the third inning as the Rebels added another run on two hits to chase to the senior from the game. Cozart opened the inning with a base hit to left. Cozart took third on a two-base throwing error by Davis on a failed pick off attempt. Presley's ground out scored Cozart with the 5-0 lead. Davis left the game after giving up a double to Ketchum.
Junior Patrick Kelly came in and walked two batters to load the bases, before Wright rapped into the inning-ending double play.
Ole Miss tacked on another run in the fourth inning to take a 6-0 lead when Henry reached on a bunt single and scored on Coghlan's RBI double.
Alabama's offense showed some life in the top of the fifth inning with two runs on three hits to cut the lead to 6-2. Emeel Salem and Matt Downs ripped back-to-back one-out doubles into the left field corner to put the Crimson Tide on the board. Kody Valverde's two-out single to right-center field scored Downs and cut the OIe Miss lead to 6-2.
Salem and Downs were a combined 4-for-10 and scored both of UA's runs in the loss.
Ole Miss added another run in the fifth to take a 7-2 lead. Presley led off with a double to left center field. Freshman left-hander Miers Quigley, who made his first appearance on the mound since March 29, came on in relief of Kelly and gave up an RBI single Ketchum before he retired the next three Ole Miss batters.
The Rebels took advantage of two UA errors in the seventh inning to take an 8-2 lead. Wright's solo home run in the eighth capped the scoring.
Alabama will await NCAA's announcement of the 16 host sites, which will take place Sunday, May 28 at 2:30 p.m. and will be aired live on ESPNews. The 64-team bracket will be announced on Monday, May 29 at 11:30 a.m. (CT) and will be aired live on ESPN.
GAME NOTES:
*Davis made his third career start in the loss to Ole Miss and his first since last year's SEC Tournament elimination game loss to Ole Miss at the Hoover Met.
*Downs recorded his first career SEC Tournament hit with a single to right in the first inning. He was 0-for-10 in Alabama's first three games.
*Freshman left-hander Miers Quigley made his first appearance on the mound since a loss to Troy on March 22.
*Junior left-hander Kenneth Brown made his second career appearance on the mound in Saturday's loss. His only other career appearance came against Lipscomb on March 22.
*Salem tied his career-high with two doubles.
