The No. 23 Crimson Tide won two of three games this past weekend against the Presbyterian Blue Hose in the last games before SEC play.
Game 1: Alabama 10, Presbyterian 0 (7 innings)
Alabama’s winning streak continued Friday night with a 10-0 mercy rule win, improving the team to 15-0. This is tied with the 1997 team for the best start in program history.
The bats got hot for Alabama in the second inning. Second baseman Brennen Norton got the Crimson Tide rolling with an RBI double, allowing third baseman Jason Torres to score. Defensive errors allowed Alabama to score 2 more runs two at-bats later, making it 3-0. A sac fly from outfielder Richie Bonomolo Jr. and an RBI double from infielder Justin Lebron brought in the final 2 runs of the inning.
In the fourth inning, another RBI from Lebron made it 6-0. Bonomolo Jr. scored the next at bat due to a fielder’s choice. The Crimson Tide added another run in the fifth, thanks to a single from catcher Brady Neal.
The Crimson Tide enforced the mercy rule in the seventh inning. It started with Lebron’s third RBI to make it 9-0 before Torres hit a single just past Presbyterian’s second baseman Aaron Hobson to allow Alabama to get the game-clinching run.
Head coach Rob Vaughn praised his team after the game for taking its games seriously, even those that might seem like ones the team could “sleep walk” through.
“I feel like everybody keeps waiting for this group to sleepwalk through something, and they just haven’t,” Vaughn said. “They’ve been very professional in the way they’ve approached their games so far.”
Sophomore Zane Adams got the start on the mound for the Crimson Tide, and he delivered. He pitched six scoreless innings, allowing only five hits while striking out a career-high 10 batters.
It was the longest start an Alabama pitcher has made this season, and Adams felt very confident throughout the night.
“I think the first thing that stood out to me tonight was just location and hitting the spots,” Adams said. “I think the biggest thing tonight was just being able to throw five different pitches.”
Game 2: Alabama 15, Presbyterian 1 (7 innings)
The Crimson Tide set a new best start in program history at 16-0 with a run-rule victory.
“It doesn’t matter who you play or where you play,” Vaughn said. “It’s tough to show up every day and ring the bell, and that’s what they’ve done. I’m proud of how they started, but the start doesn’t mean anything if you don’t continue to move in the right direction.”
The Crimson Tide began its dominance in the second inning; Torres got the inning started with a single hit 114 mph off the bat, followed by a double into the right field corner by first baseman Will Hodo and a Norton walk to load the bases with no outs.
The team captain, Kade Snell, started the scoring with a sac fly to bring in Torres, followed by an RBI fielder’s choice by catcher Will Plattner to make it 2-0.
Then, with two outs, Lebron hit a 2-run single, making it 4-0 for the Crimson Tide. Torres, in his second at-bat of the inning, got hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to pick up an RBI and make it a 5-0 lead.
The next batter, Hodo, launched a grand slam to deep right field to make it a 9-run bottom of the second inning for the Crimson Tide and take a 9-0 lead.
“I don’t know what it is about the second inning,” Hodo said. “I think it’s a testament to how good the bottom of our lineup is. It’s a lot of fun to score as many runs as we have been scoring. We’re just having a ton of fun playing baseball right now.”
The third was highlighted by a 3-run home run by Lebron, which made it 10 home runs for him on the season and tied him for the most RBIs in college baseball with 42.
A solid start by pitcher Riley Quick was just too much for Presbyterian to overcome. Quick picked up the win to improve 3-0, pitching 4.1 innings of 1-run baseball to lower his ERA on the season to 1.76.
Game 3: Presbyterian 11, Alabama 8
Alabama suffered its first loss of the season last Sunday.
The Crimson Tide got off to a great start. A 2-run home run by Torres, a solo homer by Lebron and a sac fly by Neal made it 4-0 Alabama in the first inning.
Presbyterian came right back, scoring 2 runs in the second inning and three in the third, thanks to multiple Alabama errors and passed balls. Torres’ second homer of the day gave Alabama the lead right back at 6-5.
The teams both scored a run in the fifth inning, making the game 7-6. Presbyterian scored 5 runs in the sixth, thanks to multiple mental errors committed by Alabama.
“I thought they played cleaner defense than we did. I thought they threw more strikes and competed out of the bullpen significantly better than we did. They hit with guys on base better than we did today, and that’s why you lose,” Vaughn said after the game.
Alabama scored the final run in the bottom of the eighth, where Hodo advanced to first due to an error, allowing Lebron to score from second base and make the game 11-8.
Senior Bobby Alcock got the start but would only last 2.2 innings. He allowed 5 runs (3 earned) and three hits. Alabama’s bullpen struggled, with six different pitchers from the bullpen playing and allowing 6 runs (5 earned).
