Alabama baseball secured a 12-2 victory over North Florida on March 8, completing a series sweep at Sewell-Thomas Stadium. Freshman pitcher Myles Upchurch led the Crimson Tide with a career-high 11 strikeouts across six innings, allowing only four hits and one walk before leaving in the seventh inning.
The win was finalized after seven innings due to the 10-run mercy rule. Alabama’s offense was highlighted by Brady Neal, who went 2-for-5 with five runs batted in and two runs scored, including a grand slam in the fourth inning. Bryce Fowler contributed with two hits, a home run, and a stolen base. Jason Torres added three runs batted in with a double, while Justin Osterhouse and Brennan Holt also made key contributions at the plate.
Head Coach Rob Vaughn said, “Good weekend, good one today. This felt like it could have been Presbyterian 2.0. We had two pretty successful games, but we had some rain, not sure if we were going to start on time, it just felt like a recipe where we could have been kind of sluggish today. But the quickest way to make you’re not sluggish is to throw the ball like (Upchurch) did on the mound. He just kind of smothered (North Florida). I brag about (Upchurch’s) poise, but that’s what makes him good. The moment’s not too big, he’s not trying to do anything extra, and today you saw when (Upchurch) has all four pitches going for him. He was outstanding and held them at bay until the fourth where Brady (Neal) gave us a big swing there. I’m happy with the weekend and now we turn our attention to Troy.”
Upchurch’s performance marked his best outing so far this season; he has now struck out 31 batters over his first 18.2 collegiate innings for an average of nearly 15 strikeouts per nine innings. Neal’s grand slam was his second of the season for Alabama and set a new personal record for runs batted in during a single game.
The Crimson Tide improved their record to 14-3 overall and have stolen at least one base in sixteen of their first seventeen games this year. Attendance for Sunday’s game was reported as 3,316.
Alabama will next face Troy at home on Tuesday, March 10 at 6 p.m., with coverage available on SEC Network+.
