Ole Miss vs. Alabama baseball 2016: Online streaming and preview

That ugly midweek loss to Southern Miss aside, Ole Miss has been red hot as of late, winning five of their last six to pull back into the SEC West race at 6-6. Bama is also 6-6, but trending the opposite way. The Tide started conference play with series wins over LSU and Tennessee before dropping series in Athens and Lexington. Bama limps back into its shiny new home at Sewell-Thomas Stadium looking to right the ship.

Let's run through some keys to the series. Down at the bottom you'll find game times and online streaming links.

3 big questions

1. Is the offense really turning a corner, or just facing bad pitching?

A Rebel lineup that had been stagnant as hell during the first few weeks of SEC play suddenly erupted last week: Ole Miss hit .343 and scored 8.6 runs per game during a five-game winning streak that included Sunday against State, midweek against Southern Miss and the weekend sweep of Arkansas.

But that came against poor pitching. The Hogs rank last in the conference in ERA. Bama, on the other hand, ranks sixth with a staff ERA of 3.34. All three of their weekend starters are in the mid-2.00s.

2. Does Wyatt Short end up starting again on Sunday?

Bianco yanked Chad Smith and Sean Johnson out of their starting roles during a rotation shakeup last weekend and ended up using Short, his rock star closer, to start on Sunday. Short struggled a bit with command and had to be pulled in the fifth after running into a jam, though he only allowed two earned runs.

For the third straight week, Sunday is TBA. The question isn't whether Bianco wants Short to start in Game 3 again—surely he does—but whether the Rebs can make it through the first two games without needing their star closer. Will Stokes has been solid enough on the back end this season (he threw in all three games last weekend, though his Saturday outing was a mess), but ask yourself this: if Ole Miss takes a one-run lead into the bottom of the ninth on Friday, do you really think Bianco isn't tapping Short?

3. Can David Parkinson do it again on Saturday?

The sophomore JUCO transfer was lights out in his first D1 start, allowing four hits and just one earned run through 5.1 innings. For the Rebs to finish out a tough SEC schedule (they face three currently ranked teams over the final six weekends) and make some noise during tournament play, they have to find a reliable No. 2 guy behind Brady Bramlett.

You have to like Parkinson's chances of putting up a second straight quality start considering how horrible Bama is at the plate. They rank dead last in the SEC in every one of these offensive categories:

• Batting average (.252)
• Slugging percentage (.348)
• On-base percentage (.335)
• Runs scored (150)
• Hits (273)
• Homers (13)
• Total bases (377)
• Walks (104)

The numbers

Complete Ole Miss stats | Complete Bama stats

Team pitching

Team batting

How to watch

Friday

First pitch: 7 p.m. CT
TV: nope
Online streaming: WatchESPN.com
Projected pitchers
Ole Miss: RHP Brady Bramlett (5-2, 2.49 ERA)
Bama: RHP Geoffrey Bramblett (3-1, 2.39 ERA)

Saturday

First pitch: 5 p.m. CT
TV: nah
Online streaming: WatchESPN.com
Projected pitchers
Ole Miss: LHP David Parkinson (1-0, 1.46 ERA)
Bama: RHP Jake Walters (2-3, 2.44 ERA)

Sunday

First pitch: 1 p.m. CT
TV: still no
Online streaming: WatchESPN.com
Projected pitchers
Ole Miss: TBA
Bama: RHP Nick Eicholtz (2-1, 2.51)