After losing the first two games at Kentucky, the Alabama baseball team was looking to avoid a sweep on Sunday, and it did. Starter Nick Eicholtz pitched 7.2 innings of one-run ball to set up a 2-1 Alabama victory.

“Both teams played really good, clean baseball,” coach Mitch Gaspard said. “Kentucky is a really good team. We fought, scrapped and found a way to win today’s game.”

Eicholtz picked up his second win of the season on 7.2 innings, which was a career long for him. He only allowed four base runners over the start.

“Nick [Eicholtz] gave us a great outing,” Gaspard. “He needed to go out there and dominate an SEC game for his confidence, and that’s what he did here today.”

Alabama scored one run in the first and it stayed with that score until the eighth inning when it added an insurance run for a 2-0 lead. Kentucky tried to equal the score in the bottom half of the inning, but was only able to bring one across the plate. Then, Alabama closer Thomas Burrows got Kentucky to go down 1-2-3 in the ninth inning for his seventh save.

“That’s what this league is,” Gaspard said. “A win comes down to one pitch, one play. Both pitchers were outstanding today. You had to really fight for the runs you got because both teams defended well. It was a well-played series on both sides in every phase of the game this weekend.”