In only 21 hours, the tables turned full circle on the Alabama baseball team.
After Ole Miss closer Brett Huber gave up a walk-off homerun to give Alabama a 3-2 win in Saturday’s game, its first Southeastern Conference win of the year, the Alabama bullpen could not hold a 4-2 lead to beat the Rebels Sunday.
The No. 17 Ole Miss Rebels torched Alabama for six runs in the last two innings to beat the Crimson Tide 8-4, resulting in a 2-1 series loss for the Tide.
“Ole Miss did a really good job late in the game, and we just couldn’t hold it down in the bullpen today,” head coach Mitch Gaspard said.
Gaspard said Sunday’s loss was particularly tough to swallow after coming into the game with the momentum of a walk-off homerun the day before, as well as taking a 4-2 lead into the eighth inning.
“It was tough,” Gaspard said. “It seems like we’ve had three of those opportunities now to where we could really build on the momentum from the day before, and we just haven’t been able to finish them.”
Shortstop Jared Reaves added, “It’s just kind of how it seems to be right now. I thought, offensively, we were good. Defensively, we were good, and the pitching has been great the past two days. It’s unfortunate to have that happen, but that’s baseball.”
Alabama lost its momentum in the top of the seventh inning, when Ole Miss hit a sacrifice fly to center field that scored two runs.
“I’ve seen it before, but not often,” Gaspard said. “I kind of figured on the ball right there. They had a pretty good runner at second base. With the way Taylor caught the ball running backwards, it was going to be a tough play for us. That really was the one that kind of got their momentum going and kind of broke our back.”
Reaves added, “Any time they get two [runs] off a sacrifice fly, that’s kind of heartbreaking.”
Gaspard listed the offensive production as an issue in the loss.
“Offensively, we certainly have to be better than we were today,” Gaspard said. “We’ve got to be able to pressure the defense more than a couple of times throughout the ballgame.”
Gaspard said he is trying to focus on the season’s future instead of the problems his team is facing.
“It was tough, but as I told the team today, we’ve got to have reality right now,” Gaspard said. “There’s an awful lot of young guys. All freshmen pitched yesterday and today, and they are improving. It’s not what folks want to hear right now. You want to win games, but we will win games if they continue to improve the way they are right now.”
