Grae Kessinger suffers summer-ending injury in first Cape League game

Ole Miss shortstop Grae Kessinger broke his left thumb in his first game with the Bourne Braves on Thursday.

After delaying his Cape League start to rest the strained hamstring he played on for most of his sophomore season, Kessinger started at second base in Bourne's 4-3 win over Wareham, but he collided with fellow middle infielder Anthony Prato in the seventh inning on a ball back up the middle.

He was taken to an area hospital later released. Kessinger was 0-for-3 in the game prior to the collision.

The injury will end his summer in the Cape, resulting in his second straight missed season with Bourne because of an injury. He was scheduled to play with the Braves last summer before suffering a Jones fracture on the first day of the SEC Baseball Tournament.

The Jones Fracture required surgery, but he was 100 percent by fall practice and put together a solid 2018 season. The thumb injury will be evaluated more when he returns to Mississippi this weekend.

Kessinger hit .300 with an .862 OPS in 62 games.