Alabama baseball tops Ole Miss for first road series win; scores, takeaways from the series

Alabama baseball won its first road series of the season by taking two out of three games against Ole Miss in Oxford.

The No. 18 Crimson Tide (28-16, 9-12 SEC) dominated the Rebels (23-20, 7-14 SEC) on Thursday, winning the first game 12-0 by run rule in seven innings. Ole Miss came back with a 9-8 victory on Friday to level the series, and Alabama clinched the series with a 10-3 win on Saturday.

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Alabama finally overcame its road woes in conference play. The Tide was 0-6 on the road in the SEC before the Ole Miss series. The offense struggled mightily in those losses, which led to sweeps at the hands of Georgia and Kentucky. On this road trip, the Alabama offense was stellar all weekend, recording 10 or more hits and 9 or more runs in each game of the series.

Here are three takeaways from the series between Alabama and Ole Miss:

Greg Farone shines on the mound on Thursday

Greg Farone was dealing in Thursday's win against the Rebels, pitching a complete shutout with six strikeouts and six hits allowed. He improved to 4-1 on the season and leads the team with a 3.09 ERA (7th-best ERA in the SEC). The complete-game shutout was Farone's first of his career and the first complete game by an Alabama pitcher this season.

"Greg Farone made hitters miss, he had total command of the zone and moved it in and out well. He was just outstanding," coach Rob Vaughn said.

Farone became the team's Friday night starter against the Texas A&M Aggies, and it appears he will continue to serve as the Crimson Tide's ace moving forward. On the season, Farone has started 12 games pitching 55 ⅓ innings, 59 strikeouts, 19 earned runs and 47 hits on 228 batters faced.

Justin Lebron, Mac Guscette and Will Hodo lead scorching offense

Ole Miss' starting pitchers performed well in the series, keeping the Tide off the board in the early innings of each game. However, Alabama dominated the Rebels' bullpen and got great offensive production from throughout the lineup. Justin Lebron, Mac Guscette and Will Hodo each had a powerful weekend.

Freshman Justin Lebron continued his hot offense in April with his fourth and fifth home runs in his six games since being moved up to the No. 3 hitting spot. He hit a solo home run on Friday and a two-run home run on Saturday and recorded five RBIs in the series.

Will Hodo and Mac Guscette, two of a handful of returners from last year's Alabama team, also continued their hot offense of late. Hodo hit a three-run home run in both Thursday's and Friday's games, his 10th and 11th home runs of the year. Guscette doubled his season home run count from two to four with a three-run home run on Thursday and a solo shot on Saturday. Guscette did not hit a home run until Alabama's 39th game but has now hit one in four of his last six games.

Zane Adams electric again on Saturday

Freshman pitcher Zane Adams continued his breakout campaign in Saturday's series-clinching win.

After spending some time as a midweek starter and reliever to start the season, Adams is now firmly entrenched as a weekend starter. He pitched the longest outing by an Alabama pitcher this season when he went for eight innings in a series-clinching shutout over then-No. 1 Arkansas and put up another solid start in last week's win over No. 1 Texas A&M, though Alton Davis II got the credit for that win.

On Saturday, Adams pitched another long game. He faced 28 Ole Miss batters in 7 innings and allowed 6 hits (three of which came in one inning), three earned runs and one walk. He struck out three and threw a career-high 107 pitches, 62 of which were strikes.

Davis finished the game for Adams again, pitching two innings and striking out two of the six batters he faced. Davis only needed 19 pitches to put the series to bed.

What's next for Alabama baseball?

Alabama will travel to Starkville for a series with Mississippi State. The series will begin on Friday, May 3, at 6 p.m. CT.