Alabama head coach Mitch Gaspard has been searching for offense all season long. He got a glimpse of it in Tuesday night’s 8-3 win over Southern Mississippi, in which Alabama scored more runs in its five-run seventh inning than it had in nine of its full games.

Alabama’s offensive outburst came with some record-setting production from designated hitter Josh Rosecrans. Rosecrans became the first Alabama player to hit two home runs in one game since Jake Smith did it again Samford on May 12th, 2010.

Rosecrans hit a 3-1 fastball for a two-run home run in the bottom of the first, the first one in 11 games for the Crimson Tide. His second homerun came in the prolific bottom of the seventh, a first-pitch changeup.

“On the offensive end, Rosecrans was big,” Gaspard said. “He really squared up on both of those balls he hit. When you’re able to get the ball out of the park and guys are on base, it’s certainly the story of the game.”

Despite the four runs Rosecrans generated, Gaspard still saw room for improvement in the rest of his lineup after only two of its eight runs were scored as earned runs.

“Rosecrans was good, but throughout the lineup, we still have a lot to be desired,” Gaspard said. “We had a little flurry in there, which was good, but I still think there’s more left in there.”

Outside of the hitting, Gaspard was eager to talk about junior relief pitcher Ian Gardeck, who in his first outing since March 4, pitched 2.1 innings and gave up one hit and no runs while striking out four batters.

“The story was Gardeck,” Gaspard said. “We’ve been working on a lot of things with him, trying to get more strikes out of him with his two pitches, fastball and slider. He was good.

“That’s what we wanted to do in the next few days, to build or staff from a six-man staff to an eight or nine-man staff by guys pitching well. Certainly, tonight Gardeck added himself to the list of weekend guys that can get outs.”

Gardeck was taken out of action after his March 4th outing, in which he gave up two hits, four earned runs and walked three batters in taking the loss. “It was great to get back out there,” Gardeck said. “With this week off, you’re anticipating that next opportunity and it was great to get back out there and throw the way I did.”

Gardeck used his time off smartly and bettered himself.

“It’s time to clear the mind, get refocused and work on some things,” Gardeck said. “Obviously, it paid off.”

Gaspard said, “We know Gardeck is a guy we have got to have for us to get where we want to go. It was great to see him have a good outing.”