Rebels punch back in win over Alabama to even series

OXFORD | The top of the fifth, if most clad in red and blue are honest, felt like the death knell for the evening.

Alabama scored four runs, including a three-run home run, to take its first lead of the evening. Ole Miss comebacks haven't been frequent, and Mike Bianco has consistently requested more toughness when things are going awry. The night before featured a nine-run inning and an Alabama win by a dozen.

This time, Ole Miss punched back on multiple occasions and held off Alabama, 9-8, to even the series and set up a rubber match for 2 p.m. on Saturday. The Rebels improved to 23-19 and 7-13 in the SEC. Alabama, which had won seven straight against Ole Miss, is 27-16 and 8-12 in the SEC.

The Rebels scored four of their own in the bottom of the fifth to retake a two-run advantage and then got back-to-back home runs from Ethan Lege and Will Furniss in the sixth out outpace the Tide.

"To have a lead and give it up and another lead and give it up, our guys hung in there offensively," Bianco said. "A good day for us offensively."

Lege and Furniss hit the home runs 416 feet and 431 feet, respectively. One of Furniss' doubles came off the bat at 113 MPH.

Furniss had his first four-hit game, adding two doubles and a single to the home run. His first-inning double gave Ole Miss the early lead. He was stranded after a one-out double in the eighth inning.

"I couldn't enjoy it if we didn't win," Furniss said. "We really needed this one, and we fought and battled. We always felt like we were in it and just needed to keep swinging."

Luke Hill reached base four times with three hits and a walk. He and Furniss combined for seven of Ole Miss' 10 hits. Hill had a two-out RBI in the third inning as part of a two-run inning that put the Rebels up by three runs.

Liam Doyle went 4.1 innings with five strikeouts and two walks. The sophomore allowed three hits and two runs on 85 pitches, 52 strikes.

"I thought he was terrific," Bianco said. "His fastball ticked down a little bit and was behind in the count a little bit, so we got him after that hard-hit ball and walk. He can be really good and really dominant."

Mason Morris and Connor Spencer each threw a scoreless relief inning to close it out. It's Spencer's sixth save of the season.

Ole Miss was 5-for-16 with runners on base and 4-for-13 with runners in scoring position. Alabama was 6-for-21 with runners on.