Ole Miss announces Ethan Lege will miss SEC Tournament due to fracture in his hand

Ole Miss will be without its top hitter during the upcoming SEC Baseball Tournament this week. Ethan Lege will miss the action in Hoover due to a fracture in his hand, Ole Miss has announced.

The Rebels revealed the news on Monday ahead of Tuesday’s game against Mississippi State.

“Ethan Lege had an X-Ray done today on his hand and it showed the bone had moved. He is staying behind in Oxford and will have surgery on the fracture on Wednesday,” On3’s Jake Thompson posted on Twitter.

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Lege is hitting .323 with 11 doubles, 13 home runs and 38 RBIs on the season. His .323 average leads the Rebels, as does his 1.069 OPS. The senior has been out since May 1 due to the injury.

Ole Miss needs to win the SEC Tournament to have a shot at extending its season. Being without Ethan Lege will certainly make that more difficult.

The Rebels arrived in Hoover with a 27-28 record, including an 11-19 mark in SEC play.

Ole Miss is the No. 12 seed in the SEC Baseball Tournament. With a victory on Tuesday, the Rebels will advance to face No. 4 seed Texas A&M on Wednesday. With a loss on Tuesday, the Rebels’ season will come to an end.

SEC to utilize double first base for league baseball tournament

The Southeastern Conference will utilize a double first base throughout the 2024 SEC Baseball Tournament, the league announced on Monday, via Mike Rodak.

“The purpose of the double first base is to reduce collisions between the defense and the batter-runner at first base. It has been utilized in a number of SEC non-conference contests this season,” the release stated.

The SEC has also provided an in-depth description of the rules that players need to adhere to with the utilization of a double base. These include:

• A batted ball hitting or bounding over the white portion of the bag is a fair ball. A batted ball hitting or bounding over the colored (orange or green) bag without first touching or bounding over the white section is foul.

• When an initial play is being made on the batter-runner at first base, the defense must use the white section of the double base and the batter-runner must use the colored base except in the case of a dropped third strike. After a dropped third strike, if the fielder is drawn to the side of the colored base, the runner would go the white base and the fielder to the colored base. On a dropped third strike, the fielder and batter-runner may touch either the white or colored base.

• If there is a play on the batter-runner and the batter-runner touches only the white portion of the double base and the defense appeals prior to the batter-runner returning to first base, it is treated the same as missing the base. Penalty: Batter-runner is out.

• On extra-base hits or other balls hit to the outfield when there is no chance for a play to be made at the double base, the batter-runner may touch either the white or colored section of the base. Should, however, the batter-runner reach and go beyond first base, they may only return to the white section of the base.

• Once the batter-runner reaches first base, they shall then use only the white base.