On Tuesday night at Regions Park in Birmingham, the Alabama Crimson Tide was defeated by the University of Alabama at Birmingham Blazers with a walk off in the bottom of the 11th inning. The matchup was the second time the Crimson Tide and Blazers faced off this season and the 84th all time.  

In the most recent matchup between, the Crimson Tide dominated the blazers, beating them 12-2 by run rule earlier in the season. After tonight’s matchup, the Blazers tied the season series at one game apiece.  

“Our goal this year is to win all of the midweeks, so you just stick to the same process you’ve been doing all year,” Drew Williamson said.  

Kade Woods toed the slab for Alabama in his first start of the season. Woods set the tone early in the game with effective command in his pitches and worked the zone well. 

The Alabama offense was kept off the board until the top of the third inning, when Andrew Pinckney slugged a two-run home run over the left field wall; off of UAB right hander Braxton Shelton to give the Crimson Tide an early lead.  

Woods rode his good start until the third inning as he exited in the fourth inning in favor of Aidan Moza. Woods’ final line; 3.0 innings pitched, 1 walk, and 1 strikeout on 28 pitches.  

In the top of the fifth inning, Alabama would have Shelton and Pinckey at first and third with two men out, but first baseman Drew Williamson was unable to bring them home as he would strikeout ending the threat, leaving the Crimson Tide lead at two and the Blazers getting out of a jam.  

Alabama held the Blazers off the scorecard until the fifth inning, when Moza surrendered two runs to the Blazers from a groundout to the shortstop Jim Jarvis, and a fielder’s choice back to Moza tied the game at two. Moza later was replaced by right hander Braylon Myers later in the fifth.  

The Crimson Tide and the Blazers stayed locked at two a piece until the seventh inning, when UAB second baseman John Marc Mullins hit a sac fly to right field off left hander Hunter Furtado and giving the Blazers a one-run lead over the Crimson Tide. 

Down by one run entering the top of the ninth inning, Tommy Seidl hit a solo home run to straight away center field to tie the game for the Crimson Tide and start the top half of the ninth. A Seidl home run was all Alabama could put together in the top half as they tied up the game. An Ed Johnson pop up would end the half-inning as they would head to the bottom of the ninth tied at three.  

During the top of the tenth, Mac Guscette and William Hamiter occupied the basepaths for Williamson, but a pop out once again kept the Crimson Tide off of the scoreboard, sending the game to the home half of the tenth.  

In what was a pitching duel by sides for most of the game, the UAB Blazers would walk it off in the bottom of the 11th inning, on fielding error by Drew Williamson allowing the ball to go into right field; scoring Logan Braunschweig from second, handing UAB the win.  

“Kade Woods gave us an awesome start, he looked great. Hunter Furtado was outstanding out of the bullpen. We just gave too many at-bats away early and certainly did not play very good defense tonight,” head coach Brad Bohannon said. 

Alabama will look to right the ship on Friday as they begin their weekend series in Columbus, Missouri, as they will face the Missouri Tigers in an important SEC series.   

Questions or comments? Email Blake Byler (Sports Editor) at [email protected]