The University of Alabama baseball team broke its five-game losing streak Tuesday when it seized a victory over Mississippi Valley State University 10-1 at Sewell-Thomas Stadium.
“This is just what we needed right now,” head coach Mitch Gaspard said. “After a tough week last week, we came back and saw solid pitching all night and got the bats going, which is really good to see. We had pretty good production throughout the lineup, and it was just a good clean game.”
Alabama pitcher Charley Sullivan began game one of what will be five straight games for the Crimson Tide with a three up, three down in the first inning. In the bottom of the first, outfielder Hunter Gregory scored the first run for the Tide after reaching base on a walk. Jared Reaves knocked him in.
The runs just kept coming for Alabama, as Taylor Dugas brought in Reaves for the Tide’s second run and Andrew Miller brought in Dugas for three.
“He’s [Dugas] swinging a really hot bat right now,” Gregory said. “He’s turned into a little power hitter.”
The second and third innings were scoreless for both sides. MSVU’s lineup was unable to take a single base for the fourth consecutive inning until third baseman Scott Hornstra hit a home run over the left fence for the Delta Devils’ first run.
In the bottom of the fourth the Tide hit its stride, with a run by Booth and another by James Tullidge thanks to a well-executed bunt from Ladson Montgomery.
Trey Pilkington took the mound for the Tide in the top of the fifth to shut out the Devils once again.
Nathan Kennedy entered the game as the third pitcher for the Tide and managed to hold off the Devils for another inning, while Dugas brought Gregory and Reaves home with a double.
Smith knocked a fastball clean over the scoreboard in the bottom of the seventh to earn runs nine and ten for the Tide.
“That felt pretty good,” Smith said. “I just hit it off the barrel just to get things happening.”
After an uneventful eighth inning, MSVU could not return the runs in the top of the ninth and the win went to the Tide.
“I think this was huge for us,” Gregory said. “Obviously Vanderbilt had some really good pitchers and we kind of had a rough time scoring runs and getting hits. But I think a couple of games of getting some bats tight and getting some momentum, everyone will be ready for the weekend against Tennessee and back on track.”
The win placed the Tide at 22-13 this season and knocked MSVU down to 12-18 thus far. The Tide will take on MVSU this afternoon at 3 p.m. as the teams face off for the second of a two-game series at Sewell-Thomas Stadium.
