Baseball Set to Host Eighth-Ranked Ole Miss this Weekend

April 14, 2016

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - The Crimson Tide welcomes eighth-ranked Ole Miss to Sewell-Thomas Stadium for a three-game weekend series this Friday through Sunday. The Crimson Tide and Rebels are scheduled for a 7 p.m. CT start in the series opener on Friday. Saturday's game is set to start at 5 p.m. CT to accommodate for football's A-Day Game, while Sunday's finale is slated for a 1 p.m. CT first pitch. All three games will air live on SECN+ with Mick Gillispie and Lance Cormier calling all the action.

LEADING OFF

Alabama is receiving votes in this week's NCBWA poll. Ole Miss is ranked in all five major polls, with its highest ranking coming from Baseball America at No. 8. The NCBWA and USA Today Coaches polls each have the Rebels at 11, while D1Baseball ranks UM No. 13 and Collegiate Baseball News has Ole Miss at No. 15.
The Rebels come to Tuscaloosa following a 5-1 midweek loss to 18th-ranked Southern Miss on Wednesday evening. Last weekend, the Ole Miss completed a three-game sweep of then-No. 21 Arkansas in Oxford.
Alabama and Ole Miss will meet for the 352nd time in series history when the two teams square off on Friday night. The Crimson Tide owns the all-time advantage, 206-143-2, including a 126-74-1 mark in Tuscaloosa. The two teams last met in the 2015 SEC Tournament, with Alabama claiming a 6-1 victory to advance to the double-elimination round of the conference tourney. In the regular season, Ole Miss took two of three from the Tide to claim the series victory in Oxford from April 25-26, 2015.
The Crimson Tide will call on its trio of right-handed starters for the weekend once again, first with junior Geoffrey Bramblett to open the series on Friday. Next up for Alabama will be sophomore Jake Walters, before Sunday's finale that will feature junior Nick Eicholtz.
The Rebels look to redshirt junior Brady Bramlett, a right-hander, in Friday's series opener. On Saturday, Ole Miss will throw sophomore lefty David Parkinson, who will be making his second overall start of the season. Sunday's starter is still to be announced. • This weekend's series will feature numerous promotions for fans of all ages. On Friday, the Crimson Tide will be giving away rally towels to the first 500 fans to enter in their respective areas (250 to students/250 to fans at the main gate). Saturday's game is sponsored by Holiday Inn Express and will once again feature Baseball Bingo. Sunday's series finale is Youth Day, with kids receiving Alabama eye black at the gate and also have the opportunity to run the bases and get autographs on the field postgame.

PROBABLE PITCHING MATCHUPS
FRIDAY: UA - Geoffrey Bramblett (Jr., RHP) vs. UM - Brady Bramlett (RS-Jr., RHP)
SATURDAY: UA - Jake Walters (So., RHP) vs. UM - David Parkinson (So., LHP)
SUNDAY: UA - Nick Eicholtz (Jr., RHP) vs. UM - TBA

SCOUTING ALABAMA

Alabama welcomes Ole Miss to Sewell-Thomas Stadium following a Tuesday night win over UAB, 7-6. Prior to the win over the Blazers, the Crimson Tide went 1-2 on a three-game roadtrip in Lexington at 19th-ranked Kentucky last weekend.
Chandler Avant's RBI-triple in the bottom of the eighth scored the go-ahead run for Alabama, as the Crimson Tide took down UAB, 7-6, on Tuesday night. The Tide gave up a four-run lead in the seventh, but bounced back to score one in the eighth. Closer Thomas Burrows entered in the ninth to record his eighth save of the season and lock down the midweek win for Alabama.
Game one against the Wildcats finished in favor of Kentucky, 3-2, despite a strong start from Geoffrey Bramblett. The junior starter worked 8.0 innings and struck out a season-high nine batters for the Tide. Bramblett allowed three runs on five hits with a walk and retired 11 straight form the second inning through the fifth. A single in the fifth broke the streak and then an infield error put two in scoring position before a wild pitch and a bases-clearing double scored three for the Wildcats.
Kentucky walked it off with a ninth-inning grand slam to claim the series with a 6-2 win in game two of the series. The Wildcats loaded the bases in the ninth with no outs before the Tide made a pitching change. The UA reliever recorded a strikeout for the first out before giving up a grand slam to end the game. Jake Walters worked 5.1 innings of one-run baseball, giving up five hits and walking three while striking out five.
Alabama took game three thanks to a standout start from junior right-hander Nick Eicholtz. The Tide's starter tossed a career-long 7.2 innings, allowing only one run on three hits with a walk and three strikeouts for his second win of the season. He retired the first nine batters faced before giving up a single, and then followed that with a streak of eight straight sat down before issuing a walk. Eicholtz recorded the first two outs of the eighth before turning the ball over to Burrows. The junior closer allowed two hits in the eighth, but bounced back with a 1-2-3 ninth that featured a pair of strikeouts for his seventh save of the year.
Alabama returned home this season after spending 2015 on the road. The Tide played a total of 34 "home" games across the state of Alabama on top of the 22 road contests slotted into the schedule. Thirty of the team's home games were played at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium in Hoover. The Crimson Tide also played a weekend series at Hank Aaron Stadium in Mobile and a single game inside Joe W. Davis Municipal Stadium in Huntsville.
In addition to the "home" contests, UA also traveled to Riverwalk Stadium in Montgomery for the annual MAX Capital City Classic against Auburn, and then to Regions Field in Birmingham for an away game with UAB.
Alabama's roster features 21 letterwinners from the 2015 squad that reached the quarterfinals of the 2015 SEC Tournament. The 2016 Tide returns five positional starters, and five pitchers who made five or more career starts.

SERIES HISTORY - OLE MISS

Alabama and Ole Miss will meet for the 352nd time when the two teams square off on Friday evening. The series dates back to 1895 and is the second-longest running SEC series in Alabama baseball history.
The Crimson Tide owns the all-time advantage, 206-143-2, including a 126-74-1 mark in Tuscaloosa.
The teams last met in the 2015 SEC Tournament, with Alabama claiming a 6-1 victory to advance to the double elimination round of the conference tourney. Geoffrey Bramblett worked a complete game against the Rebels, finishing with a career-high 10 strikeouts to help the Tide move on to the next round.
Ole Miss took two of three games from Alabama in last year's regular-season series in Oxford from April 25-26. The Rebels won the first two games before Bramblett helped the Tide win the series finale, 13-4, on Sunday.
Last time the two teams met in Tuscaloosa, Alabama swept then-No. 9 Ole Miss from March 28-30, 2014.
Alabama came out on top in the first two meetings ever in 1895 and went on to win 13 straight contests before Ole Miss earned its first victory over the Crimson Tide in the third game of the series in 1907.

HOME FIELD ADVANTAGE

Alabama has taken advantage of games played in Tuscaloosa at the newly renovated Sewell-Thomas Stadium.
The Crimson Tide owns a 12-4 mark at home compared to an 8-9 record in games away from the Joe.
At home, Alabama is batting .290 (140-483) compared to a .231 (133-576) mark on the road. The Tide has also scored 94 runs at home and only 56 away from Tuscaloosa.
On the pitching side of things, the Crimson Tide arms own a 2.47 ERA (39 ER/142.0 IP) at Sewell-Thomas Stadium, compared to a 4.17 ERA (69 ER/149.0 IP) as the visiting squad.
Alabama's pitchers have used the new park to their advantage, limiting opposing hitters to a .210 (107-509) average at home as opposed to a .288 (165-589) mark on the road.

ON DECK

Following this weekend's games, Alabama will host the Troy Trojans on Tuesday, April 19, before welcoming the Samford Bulldogs the very next day. Both games are scheduled for a 6:30 p.m. CT first pitch on SECN+.

University of Alabama Athletics

Baseball Set to Host Eighth-Ranked Ole Miss this Weekend

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Players Mentioned

Chandler Avant

Geoffrey Bramblett

Thomas Burrows

Nick Eicholtz

Jake Walters

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