The Alabama Crimson Tide baseball team beat the UAB Blazers 6-3 at Sewell-Thomas Stadium Tuesday night. With the win, the Tide advanced to 14-7 for the season.

“These midweek games are always difficult,” head coach Mitch Gaspard said. “Especially when you play in-state opponents. You just got to find ways to get wins, and I thought we did that tonight.” The Tide lost the lead early, as the Blazers jumped out to a 1-0 lead to start the game. Alabama answered right back, however, as the Tide took advantage of four hits to regain the lead, 2-1. The Tide wouldn’t trail for the rest of the game. The Blazers managed to tie the game in the fifth, but the Tide answered again with another four hits to extend its lead by three. The Blazers shortened the Tide’s lead by 1 in the eighth, but Bama matched the Blazer’s score yet again to take a permanent 6-3 lead.

“That’s the key,” Gaspard said. “That’s encouraging with our team right now… when they score, we come right back and we have our best innings right there. And that’s showing improvement with us offensively.” The Tide’s greatest asset of the night was its ability to hit against a good UAB pitching staff that, as a team, averaged a 3.30 ERA on the season. The Tide had 11 hits on the night, and was led on the night by Austen Smith, who had three hits with four at-bats. “Offensively, I thought we were a little spotty, but Austen Smith did a really good job, had some hits to get down,” Gaspard said. “We had pretty decent pressure offensively, I thought, throughout the game. “We’re starting to put better at-bats together,” Gaspard said. “It’s still not obviously where we want it, but I think we’re moving closer to what we want to do.” The Tide’s pitchers also performed well, as sophomore Charley Sullivan got his first career start and the win on the night, going five innings. Freshman pitcher Jay Shaw also threw well out of the bullpen, going two innings before being taken out with what Gaspard said he hoped was tendinitis in the elbow. Jonathan Smart, a senior, closed the game for the Tide, putting down all four batters he faced. “Not what you’re looking for the first start,” Sullivan said. “Kinks to work out. I just try to come out and give the team a chance to win. The bats have been good the last four or five games, so I just try to minimize the damage and just put us in a position to win. I wasn’t as sharp as I should have been. But overall, a win is a win.” The Tide hopes to carry the win into its second game of the five-game stretch at home tonight against the Jacksonville State Gamecocks, before finishing out a weekend series against SEC opponent Kentucky.