With a series against No. 1 Tennessee looming this weekend, No. 24 Alabama baseball could have overlooked its midweek opponent, but the Crimson Tide defeated the Belmont Bruins 3-1 at Sewell-Thomas Stadium Tuesday afternoon.

“I thought going into this game after a good weekend, you worry about letdown and a hangover from the weekend,” Alabama pitching coach Jason Jackson said.

The Crimson Tide didn’t have a letdown on the mound, going through the Bruins lineup with ease and allowing just six hits total. 

Freshman Ben Hess made his sixth midweek start of the season, and it was by far his best showing. Hess went four innings, allowing just one hit while striking out seven Belmont hitters. 

Luke Holman, Hunter Hoopes, and Hunter Furtado all made appearances out of the bullpen, with the Bruins’ sole run coming off of Furtado in the top of the eighth. Right-hander Braylon Myers came in and recorded his first save of the season.

“Once Ben [Hess] got settled in, he looked as sharp as he has all year,” Jackson said. “The bullpen did a good job. Hunter Hoopes came in with some runners on and got out of that. [Hunter] Furtado was a little rusty. He didn’t pitch over the weekend, but it was good to get him out there for an inning and keep him in a groove. And wanted to see what Braylon Myers could do in that situation, and he went out and did a great job.”

Hess, who got his first win of the season in his sixth start, was happy with not only his performance, but the team’s recent success as well.

“It feels great,” Hess said. “I’m kind of starting to settle in a bit. Every time I just try to get a little better.”

The Alabama offense was nothing special on Tuesday, but it did enough to win the game. Third baseman Zane Denton had two RBI singles on the day and walked once. Shortstop Jim Jarvis was the only other batter to record multiple hits, going 2-for-3 with an RBI. 

The Crimson Tide made contact with the baseball, recording eight hits and only striking out five times.

Belmont second baseman Jack Capobianco had a day at the plate, going 3-for-4 with two doubles, but the rest of his teammates couldn’t consistently get anything going, combining for just three hits.

The win is the seventh in a row for Alabama, which is now 22-12 on the season. The Crimson Tide head to Knoxville to take on the top-ranked Tennessee Volunteers this weekend.

The Volunteers are 31-1 and have won 23 straight games. Tennessee is off to the best start in SEC history, beginning conference play with four sweeps at 12-0.

First pitches will be Friday at 5:30 p.m. CT, Saturday at 5 p.m. CT and Sunday at noon CT. All games against the Volunteers will be on SEC Network+.