As the rain spared the midweek matchup between Alabama and South Alabama, it was the power of the Crimson Tide lineup that brought lightning in a bat to smash the Jaguars 12-2 on Tuesday.

Alabama (13-0), which received the No. 25 ranking in the NCAA Baseball Coaches Poll by USA Today this week, sent four balls over the wall and stacked up 14 hits to South Alabama’s four. The 13-game win streak in now the longest winning streak under coach Brad Bohannon and the Crimson Tide stands as one of only six unbeaten teams in Division I.

Junior Tyler Gentry doubled his season total for homers with two over the playground behind the left-field wall: a two-run shot in the first inning on a hanging slider and a three-run base-rounder off a changeup in the fifth inning. Gentry’s six RBIs are the most by a Crimson Tide player in a game this season. Gentry was 3 for 5 with three runs scored and the six runs driven in.

“Coach [Jerry] Zulli has preached to us this year to just be aggressive,” Gentry said. “I think we’ve taken that and really started to capitalize and it’s coming to fruition.”

Redshirt sophomore Sam Praytor came up a few feet short of following Gentry’s first inning home run with one of his own, but he settled for a three-run knock over the left-field fence in the eighth inning. Praytor finished 2 for 5 with three RBIs and a run scored. Sophomore Drew Williamson’s solo home run in the first inning put Alabama ahead for good to polish off a powerful day for the Crimson Tide at the plate. Williamson was 2 for 4 with a run scored and a walk. It was an outright dogfight for the home run chain on Tuesday.

“We know we can hit for power and that’s definitely a big weapon of ours,” Gentry said. “We push each other to get better every day and it’s a friendly competition to see who can hit the most.”

Redshirt junior Garret Rukes made his first start of the year on the mound for Alabama. The Jaguars pushed two runs across in the opening half-inning when freshman Peyton Wilson, who earned SEC Freshman of the Week honors this week, dropped the routine fly ball in center with two outs but got the runner at second to save the third run.

After its two hits in the opening half inning, senior Casey Cobb, sophomores Tyler Ras and Chase Lee and freshman Landon Green blanked the Jaguars over the last seven frames for two hits, eight strikeouts and no walks. Cobb (2-0) earned the win, throwing three innings of one-hit baseball while striking out four batters.

“We went into the game expecting to pitch five or six guys,” Bohannon said. “I didn’t think [Rukes] was sharp; he’s a command guy, not a stuff guy. We knew we wanted to get these other guys some work.”

Freshman Jim Jarvis had his best game of his early Alabama career, going 3 for 4 with an RBI double in the fifth inning while adding a run scored. Up 7-2, Alabama posted a five-spot in its final offensive half-inning in the eighth. Freshman Owen Diodati’s sacrifice fly to left and Gentry’s final RBI each scored one run prior to Praytor’s home run to cap the scoring.

Alabama was scheduled for some in-state matchups with North and South Alabama for its midweek slate, but it doesn’t seem likely the Crimson Tide will get as lucky with Wednesday’s forecast as it did on Tuesday. Alabama’s 10-game home stand culminates this weekend with a series against Lipscomb and a much more positive forecast.

“Today was our day – a lot of hard contact, the multiple home runs and the pitching was lights out,” Bohannon said. “Hopefully we can carry that momentum into the weekend.”