Through only three games of his Alabama career, freshman designated hitter Owen Diodati is growing a reputation for being a constant threat to score runs. In the six hits he’s recorded, only one of them haven’t gone for extra bases, three of which have been home runs.

“I’ve talked a lot about [how] I think we’re a team that’s going to hit 60-70 home runs,” coach Brad Bohannon said. “When you’re really just counting on one or two guys in the middle and one of those guys hit a little rough patch it just kills your offense. We’ve got a nice mix of left and right and some of those guys that are hitting sixth and seventh could easily be hitting second or third.”

Bohannon attributes the real strength of this offense being the players who hit later in the batting order like Diodati, who currently bats seventh. Hitters such as Diodati, can be just as good as the players hitting earlier in the order.

“Every hitter has ups and downs just like a team does,” Bohannon said “Just like a pitcher does so when you have some guys [at] five, six and seven that are real threats it really takes the pressure off the guys in the top and the middle and that’s how you have a consistent offense.”

In Sunday’s game against Northeastern, Diodati went 3-for-3, with a home run, a triple and a single while also adding three RBIs in Alabama’s 6-3 win over Northeastern. When he walked up to the plate in the bottom of the seventh inning for his fourth plate appearance and one double short of completing a cycle, Diodati was intentionally walked with a runner at second.

“It’s obviously an honor to have that, especially in that situation,” Diodati said. “As a hitter I like to hit but I’m never going to complain about a free base, that’s how you help your team win – yeah, it was really cool for sure.”

After his triple in the fifth inning, it didn’t occur to Diodati that he was close to cycle until he had entered the dugout.

“I didn’t even think about it at all after I hit the triple,” Diodati said. “I walked back in the dugout and one of the pitchers said something to me and I told him ‘why did you have to tell me that now I’m going to be thinking about it.’”

Although Diodati acknowledged the great start he’s had to his career, he knows not to expect this to happen all the time and to stay positive at the plate when he goes through a slump.

“You know I was lucky enough to see the ball really well this weekend,” Diodati said. “This is something me and coach [Bohannon] talked about a lot, about how baseball isn’t easy and there is obviously going to be weekends that don’t go like this. So I think just staying level and not getting too high at times like this and low when you have the 0-for-4 day or the 0-for-15 weekend.”