Austin Simmons leaves game with left elbow injury

Ole Miss left-handed pitcher -- and quarterback on the Rebel football team -- left Thursday's series opener against Alabama with a left elbow injury.

Simmons entered in the fourth inning and left the game after reacting on the fourth pitch he threw in the outing. The freshman bent over in apparent pain and walked off the field shaking his left arm.

Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco said after the 12-0 Alabama run-rule victory that Simmons saw a team doctor and will undergo an MRI on the elbow soon.

"Felt something in his elbow," Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco said, "so we got him out of there."

The Rebels are 22-19 overall and 6-13 in the SEC.

Simmons returned to the dugout during the sixth inning but was noticeably not moving his left arm, eating and drinking with the right arm and keeping the left arm down and close to his body.

Ole Miss football coach Lane Kiffin walked into the clubhouse and then back toward the dugout with Simmons following the injury.

Simmons reclassified two years early to enroll at Ole Miss last summer. He's expected to compete with Walker Howard for the backup quarterback job behind Jaxson Dart this fall.

Simmons has appeared in 13 games this baseball season with a 3.21 ERA and .173 batting average against. He has 20 strikeouts and 11 walks in 14 innings.

Simmons last pitched twice five days ago against Georgia. He threw 2.2 combined innings, with 24 pitches in game one of the doubleheader and 21 pitches in game two of the doubleheader. He didn't allow an earned run in either appearance.

Simmons, who practiced football during the spring around baseball obligations, had a mild throwing session on Wednesday and felt fine, Bianco said.

"He did stuff at the football facility and threw a short work and always feels good," Bianco said. "Those things aren't chronic where they are sore, sore sore and something happens. Usually they don't feel anything until something happens. We'll know more once we get the test back."