Alabama baseball has been a revolving door all season long. Head coach Mitch Gaspard has changed his lineup and pitching rotation repeatedly, never using both the same rotation and lineup for all three games in two consecutive weekends.
Now, it looks like Gaspard may be slowing things down a bit in his starting rotation, heading into a three-game series on the road against the rival Tennessee Volunteers.
Gaspard said he’d stick with the same weekend pitching rotation he did last weekend against Ole Miss, a move that did not surprise some team members.
“Coming into the season, that was kind of a question mark,” third baseman Brett Booth said. “Lately, they’ve given everything they had. Can’t ask for much better than what they’ve done.”
Junior Charley Sullivan will be the Friday night starter. In Sullivan’s Friday night start last weekend, he pitched six innings and gave up seven hits and four earned runs, earning a no decision. Saturday’s start belongs to freshman Justin Kamplain, who held the Rebels in six of his seven innings on the mound and carries a 2.54 ERA into the Tennessee series.
The Sunday start will remain in the hands of Jon Keller, who pitched a season-high 6.2 innings against Ole Miss and was able to lower his ERA from 3.38 to 3.18 in the start.
Although the pitching staff is set for the weekend, the batting order, and even decisions on who will play and who will not, is far from completed.
“Offensively, we’ll continue to juggle until we find something that we feel like can find some offense for us and puts some runs on the board,” Gaspard said.
Although changes will likely be made, Gaspard is not going to do anything drastic.
“We’ve got our core of about 12 or 14 players that have been in and out, and we kind of give them that two- or three-game run to spark us a little bit,” Gaspard said. “When you look at the lineup right now, it’s not one or two guys struggling, it’s seven to eight guys that are all struggling and have been struggling at the same period of time for a long time.”
Finding the right combination is key for Alabama’s chances of beating the Volunteers this weekend.
“They’re an improved team from last year,” Gaspard said. “They’ve got a new coach in Dave Serrano, who’s really brought some energy into the program.”
Gaspard continued, “A lot of the same players, but they’re going to play a different style. They kind of have that West Coast flair, a lot more running and bunting, and they’re really good at it.”
The Crimson Tide will be thrown in the fire early in this series, facing the reigning Southeastern Conference Pitcher of the Week to open the series. Zack Godley earned the accolade after handing the Kentucky Wildcats their first loss in an eight-inning, three-hit and four-strikeout effort last weekend.
“Friday night really sets the tone for the rest of the weekend,” Booth said. “Whether that’s on the mound or offensively, if we can get a good start and get a big win Friday night, that’ll definitely build some momentum for us.”
