Ole Miss could get infielder Brayden Randle back for Auburn series
Ole Miss is entering the final weekend of the regular season and might be doing so while getting the infield back to full depth.
Infielder Brayden Randle has been out of action for the last two-plus weeks due to fracturing a finger that also split open when hit by a ball. He has missed the the last three Southeastern Conference Series (Vanderbilt, at Oklahoma, at Mississippi State) but looks to be trending towards being available against No. 6 Auburn, which starts on Thursday.
Randle had to have surgery to fix the finger and also stitched up where the ball cut him on the tip. In Wednesday’s initial player availability report Randle was listed as ‘Probable,’ which follows the positive prognosis Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco gave after Tuesday’s game against UT Martin.
“(Tuesday) he threw for the first time. He’s been taking ground balls, but just one-handed,” Bianco said. “Today, he went through kind of a defensive portion. Didn’t throw a ton. Put him at second to shorten the throws. I think it’s more, just a pain tolerance now. The incision from the surgery is healed so now it’s more, that fracture. That he’s okay.”
With Randle out it caused the depth of the infield to be limited beyond starters Judd Utermark and Luke Cheng. Owen Paino has played some but in a reserve role in Randle’s absence.
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Getting him back in any capacity would be a plus this weekend, and moving forward into next week’s SEC Tournament and the NCAA Tournament in two weeks. Before getting injured Randle was hitting .288 with 17 hits, four doubles and five runs batted in.
Ole Miss (35-17, 14-13 SEC) is looking to regain some momentum that has been lost over the last month. Going back to the series against Tennessee the Rebels have lost four of their last five to stumble down the home stretch.
With Auburn (37-15, 16-11) coming to town it presents another RPI opportunity as the Tigers currently sit at No. 2 heading into the series. First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m. CT on Thursday on SEC Network+.
