Ethan Lege to miss Auburn series with fractured thumb as Ole Miss wins the opener
There was good news and bad news for the Ole Miss baseball team on Friday. The Rebels defeated Auburn to take opening game of the conference series but also learned it will be without Ethan Lege for at least the rest of the weekend.
Lege suffered a fractured right thumb after getting hit by a pitch against Mississippi State in Pearl on Wednesday. The subsequent x-rays and scans revealed the extent of the injury on Friday.
Despite the hand injury, Lege tried to see if he could still be effective in a batting capacity but was unable to due to it still being swollen and was held off the 27-man roster for the Southeastern Conference series against the Tigers.
“We tried it a little bit today before batting practice. Put it in a splint that was molded specially for his thumb,” Bianco said. “All the doctors say the way the fracture is he can’t injury it any worse. It’s really just a pain thing but it’s still very swollen and painful for him. He’s not going to be able to do it this weekend.”
The door was left open for the possibility of Lege still being able to contribute this season with Bianco noting it is now up to how much pain his outfielder can tolerate moving forward.
Once the team gets back to Oxford after this weekend they will take another look at Lege’s thumb and get some other opinions.
“That’s the hope, but I don’t want to get ahead of myself,” Bianco added. “We’re here in Auburn. Our doctors have seen the x-rays and scans but he’ll see one of our orthopedics on Monday when he gets back. Nobody wants to see a fracture or anything like that. Again, I don’t want to get ahead of myself. I’d rather them make the decision. I just know he’s not going to be able to play this weekend.”
Even without its best hitter available the Ole Miss offense resurfaced in the 11-7 win over Auburn.
Coming off Wednesday’s loss to Mississippi State, Jackson Ross expressed his frustration with the losses and stating he, and hopefully his teammates, were “tired of it.” Ross took that frustration out on some baseballs on Friday, going 3-for-5 with two runs batted in and a home run. He was a triple shy of hitting for the cycle.
Joining Ross in the home run barrage was Andrew Fischer and Will Furniss with a three-run home run each. Fischer’s occurred in the third inning as part of a four-run frame while Furniss’ came in the fifth inning part of a second four-run frame.
Ole Miss put up double-digit runs off 14 hits and five walks. Situational hitting was also clicking with the Rebels going .500 (5-for-10) with runners in scoring position.
“That’s another thing we’ve struggled with this year. We’ve got them on, we haven’t been able to hit them in,” Bianco said. “Tonight, big night by several guys throughout the line up. Usually when you do it throughout the lineup its a big night.”
Ole Miss (24-21, 8-14 Southeastern Conference) will try for its third SEC series win of the season on Saturday. Game two against Auburn (21-23, 3-19) is scheduled for a 7 p.m. CT first pitch and will air on the SEC Network.
