The former walk-on, redshirt junior RHP Tyler Fay, delivered a career night on the mound Friday, striking out a career-high 11 batters over seven innings as Alabama defeated North Florida 7-2.
The Doniphan, Nebraska, native allowed just four hits and one walk, with his only blemish coming on a two-run home run. Ospreys right fielder Gialdri Gomez crushed what head coach Rob Vaughn referred to as Fay’s worst pitch of the night over the right-field wall, but the right-hander quickly responded.
After the home run, Fay retired nine of the next 11 batters he faced while striking out six.
“That was just a pretty bad fastball that I threw that the guy hit out,” Fay said. “After that, I kind of flipped the switch.”
Fay’s performance was a complete 180 from his start on opening day against Washington State. Fay allowed five runs and lasted just 3.2 innings, drawing early criticism after Alabama fell to a team picked to finish near the bottom of the Mountain West Conference.
However, since then, the Crimson Tide’s Friday night starter has steadily improved with each outing. For Fay, the outing was the result of everything finally coming together.
“That was kind of the first game all year that I had everything working,” Fay said. “The slider’s been kind of hit or miss. Having that to get ahead in counts and put away people was really good. And then the changeup, four-seam, everything felt pretty good. I was just trying to fill up the zone.”
Vaughn allowed Fay to pitch into the seventh inning as the team continued to build his pitch count ahead of SEC play. Fay finished with a career-high 95 pitches after never previously throwing more than six innings in a start.
“It’s kind of been the plan all along,” Vaughn said. “We wanted to keep inching him up so that next week, if we need him to go 100 or 105 pitches, that’s not out of the question.”
This outing served as another reminder of why Alabama’s coaching staff trusts Fay with the ball to open every weekend series. With SEC play looming, the Crimson Tide hopes Friday’s performance is a sign its ace is hitting his stride at the right time.
The Crimson Tide will begin SEC play Friday in Lexington with Fay toeing the rubber. The first pitch is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. CT on SECN+.
