A ballooning error count proved to be Alabama baseball’s undoing once again, as five defensive miscues led to a 6-3 defeat against South Alabama and extended the team’s losing skid to four games.
“Just one of those nights that we just didn’t play good, plain and simple,” head coach Rob Vaughn said. “That’s the reality.”
The Crimson Tide struck first in the top half of the second inning. Tuscaloosa native and left fielder Eric Hines led off the frame with a single, then first baseman Luke Vaughn doubled to put two runners in scoring position for right fielder Brennan Holt against his former team. Holt picked up an RBI groundout to give the Crimson Tide a 1-0 advantage.
In the top of the third, shortstop Justin Lebron led off with a double in the left-center gap, and the next batter, catcher Brady Neal, laid down a sacrifice bunt. Third baseman Jason Torres extended the Crimson Tide’s lead to 2-0 thanks to an RBI single.
Freshman left-handed pitcher Luke Smyers replaced Crimson Tide starting pitcher Bobby Alcock in the bottom half of the inning and loaded the bases due to a couple of errors. However, Smyers recorded a pair of strikeouts and a groundout to help work into and out of trouble.
Smyers came back out for the fourth and picked up two more punchouts to set a new career high with four strikeouts and work a scoreless inning. Smyers walked the first two batters of the fifth, then was replaced by Sam Mitchell.
Mitchell looked like he was going to strand the bases loaded, but Lebron bobbled a routine ground ball, allowing the Jaguars to crack the score column and cut the Crimson Tides’ lead to 2-1. LeBron’s error was the third of the game for the Crimson Tide and the eighth of the season for him.
“Obviously, we’ve got the best player in the country standing at shortstop, and he just wasn’t able to make a play,” Rob Vaughn said.
Mitchell picked up the final out of the fifth and limited the damage before handing the ball off to Anthony Pesci for the sixth inning. Pesci allowed a couple of singles, walked a batter and recorded two outs. Ashton Crowther took over and induced a fielder’s choice to strand the bases loaded and keep the Crimson Tide’s slim lead intact.
In the top of the seventh, the Crimson Tide added an insurance run thanks to a wild pitch, allowing center fielder Bryce Fowler to score, making it a 3-1 ballgame.
Crowther allowed back-to-back singles, then notched the first two outs of the bottom half of the inning, but things quickly went downhill from there for the Crimson Tide. It looked like Crowther was going to get out of the inning unscathed, but an E5 from Torres loaded the bases for the Jaguars and extended the inning.
Evan Steckmesser was called upon to replace Crowther. Stewart Puckett made the Crimson Tide pay for its mistakes, delivering a game-tying two-run single. Blake Guerin followed with a back-breaking two-run single to give the Jaguars a 5-3 lead. All four runs were unearned due to the error from Torres to extend the inning.
JT Blackwood came in relief for Steckmesser in the bottom half of the eighth and surrendered an RBI single to Ethan Melton, extending the Jaguars’ lead to 6-3. The Crimson Tide went down scoreless in the ninth inning to end this one.
The story of this game was sloppy defense by the Crimson Tide, which committed a season-high five errors, allowing five unearned runs to score. The team now has 31 errors through 22 games.
“When you’re walking through hell like these guys are now, everything seems to bounce the other way,” Vaughn said. “We can either feel bad for ourselves and point fingers and start to play tight and press and believe all the noise, or we can put our heads down and keep working.”
The Crimson Tide will be back at The Joe Friday, looking to bounce back against No. 18-ranked Florida in its SEC home opener. First pitch is slated for 6 p.m. CT on SEC Network+.
