No. 16 Alabama baseball took two of three games from No. 11 Oklahoma in Norman this weekend, the Crimson Tide’s third straight SEC series win. This is the first time the Crimson Tide has won three straight SEC series since 2023.
Game 1: Alabama 10, Oklahoma 7
The Crimson Tide took the first game of the series 10-7 behind an offensive explosion in the first couple of innings.
Alabama wasted no time getting the scoring started as center fielder Bryce Fowler crushed a leadoff bomb the other way on the first pitch of the game, his fourth homer of the year, making it 1-0.
“He’s just a tough competitor, man. That’s Bryce Fowler in a nutshell,” head coach Rob Vaughn said. “The bigger the moment, the better he is. Not only the swings last weekend, but the defense in center last weekend, and then the unbelievable at-bats really set the tone today.”
Right fielder Brady Neal just missed a home run of his own to dead center field, but trotted into third for a triple. Catcher John Lemm came through with a two-out RBI single right back up the middle to extend the Crimson Tide’s lead to 2-0.
The Sooners responded in the bottom half of the frame. Shortstop Jaxon Willits delivered a two-out RBI single, cutting the Crimson Tide’s lead in half.
In the top of the second, Fowler crushed his second home run in as many innings, this time a three-run shot, his fifth of the year, making it a four RBI game for him and a 5-1 game. A couple of batters later, Neal drove in shortstop Justin Lebron with an RBI single, ending Sooners starter LJ Mercurius’ day.
Mercurius’ brother Xander Mercurius replaced him, and he received a rude welcome as Crimson Tide third baseman Jason Torres crushed a two-run homer on the first pitch he saw, his fourth of the year, as the Crimson Tide was pouring it on with an 8-1 lead.
Left fielder Justin Osterhouse then joined the home run barrage, hammering a two-run shot in a 3-0 count to extend the Crimson Tide’s lead to 10-1, making it an eight-run second inning.
The Sooners cut the Crimson Tide’s lead to 10-4 in the bottom of the fifth, thanks to a solo home run from Nolan Stevens. A couple of batters later, left fielder Trey Gambill crushed a two-run homer of his own.
It looked like the Sooners were going to make it a three-run game with a three-run homer, but not on Neal’s watch, as he scaled the right field wall to rob right fielder Alec Blair.
Righty Sam Mitchell replaced Crimson Tide starter Tyler Fay on the mound in the bottom of the seventh and worked a scoreless frame, then retired the Sooners in order in the eighth. Fay tossed six innings, allowing four runs, six hits, walking a batter, and striking out seven on 93 pitches.
Mitchell came back out for the ninth and ran into some trouble, allowing a solo home run to Blair, cutting the Crimson Tide’s lead to just five runs. Then, Camden Johnson drilled a two-run triple to make it 10-7 and put the tying run in the on-deck circle.
Matthew Heiberger took over for Mitchell and recorded the final out to give the Crimson Tide the win.
Game 2: Oklahoma 4, Alabama 2
The Crimson Tide struck first thanks to a wild pitch that allowed Lebron to come across to score.
In the bottom of the second, Sooners center fielder Jason Walk dunked in an RBI bloop single to center to knot things up at 1-1.
The Sooners took a 3-1 lead in the third inning thanks to a wild pitch from Crimson Tide starter Zane Adams that allowed a run to score. First baseman Deiten Lachance followed with a sacrifice fly. The Sooners extended their lead in the fourth inning via third baseman Camden Johnson’s RBI groundout to make it 4-1.
Austin Morris was the first pitcher to come out of the Crimson Tide bullpen. He worked a 1-2-3 sixth inning with a couple of strikeouts and a scoreless seventh. Adams pitched five innings, surrendering six hits, allowing four runs, walking three, and striking out seven on 96 pitches.
In the top of the seventh, Fowler delivered an RBI single, cutting the Sooners’ lead in half at 4-2 and ending the Sooners starter Cameron Johnson’s day. The Crimson Tide had a chance to tack on some more runs with Lebron and Neal up with runners at the corners and one out, but they both went down on strikes.
“That’s the best version you get of Cam Johnson,” Vaughn said. “I talked to a lot of coaches coming in, and it’s like a million heaters, and you’re just not going to hit it. It’s a tough, tough pitch; it’s 96, 98 with like 20 inches of run, it just depends on whether he’s in the zone or not. Credit to him, he was in the zone a lot, he made some really big pitches in some big spots.”
Freshman left-hander Luke Smyers took over for Morris in the eighth and worked a scoreless frame thanks to a perfect throw from catcher Lemm to gun down second baseman Kyle Branch as he tried to steal second.
The Crimson Tide went down in order in the ninth to drop the second game of the series.
Game 3: Alabama 3, Oklahoma 2
For the third straight game, the Crimson Tide took an early lead in the top of the first inning, Fowler came around to score on a wild pitch, and Lebron scored on a passed ball. Tuscaloosa native designated hitter Eric Hines drove a ball to center that Walk misplayed, allowing Neal to score and give the Crimson Tide a 3-0 lead.
In the bottom half of the inning, Sooners catcher Brendan Brock picked up an RBI single on the play, cutting the Crimson Tide’s lead to 3-1. On the single, freshman starting pitcher Myles Upchurch rolled his ankle on the follow-through, and it looked like he might leave the game with an injury, but he went to the dugout to get it taped up and remained in the game.
“He got caught just coming off the mound with his ankle rolling a little bit,” Vaughn said of Upchurch. If you would have seen his demeanor, you wouldn’t know any different. He didn’t panic, he didn’t flinch. That’s big-time maturity for a young man.”
Upchurch walked the first batter he faced in the fourth inning, his fifth free pass of the game to end his day. Left-hander Ashton Crowther took over and picked up the final three outs to strand a runner at first.
Crowther remained in the game for the fifth and picked up the first two outs before allowing back-to-back infield singles, then walked a batter on a pitch that looked like it should have been called strike three.
When Branch picked up an RBI infield single, the Crimson Tide had a runner hung up between second and third, and a second run originally scored. But after review, it was revealed that the runner between second and third was tagged out before the second run could score, making it a 3-2 game.
In the bottom of the sixth, Crowther worked a 1-2-3 inning with a pair of strikeouts and picked up the first two outs of the seventh before walking a batter. Heiberger replaced Crowther and recorded a strikeout, stranding the tying run at second.
Heiberger came back out for the eighth inning and navigated around a leadoff walk, picking up a huge strikeout to strand the tying run at second yet again. The Crimson Tide closer, Hagan Banks, was called upon to pitch the ninth inning and worked a 1-2-3 inning to pick up his fifth save of the season and clinch the series.
“The ballpark just played very different today,” Vaughn said. “It’s been a good place to hit for two days, and it was a miserable place to hit today. Just a gritty win, an unbelievably well-pitched game with Heiberger and Banks shutting it down, so I’m really proud of the guys.”
