Alabama baseball’s offense was too tough to tame Tuesday in the Crimson Tide’s midweek 12-2 victory over Middle Tennessee in eight innings.
The team scored 12 runs on 14 hits and 10 walks, tallying four doubles and six extra-base hits total. Alabama had five players record multi-hit games, with shortstop Justin Lebron and first baseman Will Hodo hitting home runs.
“Offensively, I thought we were unbelievable, setting some stuff up,” Alabama head coach Rob Vaughn said postgame. “I thought we tried maybe a little too much there early and then kind of let the game come to us late.”
Lebron’s solo shot in the eighth ended the game by run rule. He went 2 for 5 at the plate, knocking in 3 runs and scoring 1.
Hodo recorded three hits on the night with two going for extra bases. He also scored 3 runs and knocked in 2.
“After a weekend I didn’t really feel myself, it just felt awesome to catch something solid,” Hodo said.
The Crimson Tide had a big inning in the bottom of the third, plating 4 runs and recording three walks, which set up a 2-RBI single down the left field line from outfielder Coleman Mizell to give Alabama a 5-0 advantage.
Despite scoring 12 runs, Alabama had plenty of opportunities to add more on, stranding 13 runners on base and striking out nine times.
“I think sometimes you get in there and you want to execute so bad, you want to get it done for your boys, that you just kind of leave the zone,” Vaughn said, adding that “we weren’t kind of ourselves in that situation, but nobody panicked.”
Alabama continues nonconference play this weekend, traveling to Jacksonville, Florida, to face Coastal Carolina on Friday, NC State on Saturday and Ohio State on Sunday. The matchups can be streamed on D1Baseball.com.
