The first half of the SEC season has not gone as planned in Alabama baseball coach Mitch Gaspard’s eyes. Alabama had won just four SEC games before last weekend, until the Crimson Tide took a series against Georgia 2-1. Gaspard said he wants to ride the momentum from that series into this week against UAB and against Missouri next weekend.

“You want to grab a Tuesday game to get momentum going into the weekend, and UAB has a good team,” Gaspard said. “If we go out and execute, we have a good enough team to go out and beat anybody.”

Alabama has played UAB once this season at Regions Field and won the game 7-2. Last time, six pitchers combined to have an outing of just two earned runs and 12 strikeouts. Tuesday’s matchup will be at home and will be the final game between the two unless they meet in the postseason. The players said they want the momentum to carry, and a win against UAB will do that before Alabama heads to Missouri.

“I think we just [need to] keep playing the way we are playing, keep fighting and getting better,” sophomore pitcher Geoffrey Bramblett said. “Then, we will be in the right spot in the end.”

Gaspard said pitcher Nick Eicholtz will get the start against UAB. Eicholtz has mainly been used as a reliever during the season, and has a 1-0 record with a 2.08 earned run average. His one win was against UAB at Regions Field. Eicholtz also averages 1.22 strikeouts per inning.

Alabama has given up four runs or less in only six out of the last 15 games.

“It’s one at a time right now. We’ve got a ways to go to be a good baseball team,” Gaspard said. “We are up and down and inconsistent right now. Series wins – that’s all it’s about right now.”