Alabama baseball held off a late rally by Jacksonville State to secure a 6-5 win at Sewell-Thomas Stadium on Tuesday. The Crimson Tide now has a record of 10-3, matching the Gamecocks’ mark after the game.
Reliever Hagan Banks closed out the final two innings for Alabama, earning his third save of the season. He struck out two batters in a scoreless eighth inning but faced trouble in the ninth. With two outs and two strikes, Jacksonville State’s Matthew Cash hit a double that brought in two runs and put the tying run on second base. Banks then induced a flyout to left field to end the game.
Ashton Crowther recorded his first win with Alabama, coming in during the fifth inning when Jacksonville State threatened with runners in scoring position. Crowther ended that inning with a strikeout and then retired six consecutive batters over his next two innings of work.
Head Coach Rob Vaughn said after the game, “Yeah, good win tonight. (Jacksonville State) is one of the hottest teams in college baseball right now. There’s some tough dudes on the opposite side of the ball that just ran off good plans, good approaches. I’m so proud of the effort. Man, proud of the effort. How many guys can we get banged up in one night? But, it was just kind of next guy up, go do your job. The story of the game was (Crowther). Not only did he come in with two guys on, but he hung two more zeroes after that. And that’s what allowed us to get the ball to (Hagan) Banks late. And he did really kind of settle that game and kill any momentum. But proud of the effort, proud of the win. And now it’s on, to Alabama State tomorrow.”
Starting pitcher Bobby Alcock allowed two hits and two earned runs over three innings before Sam Mitchell entered for 1.2 innings and gave up another pair of runs.
At bat, Brady Neal contributed early with a two-run home run in his first plate appearance and finished with one hit, one walk, and scored twice. Jason Torres drove in runs with both a bunt single and an RBI double. Brennan Holt added an RBI single while Justin Lebron produced another run with a sacrifice fly.
With this result, Alabama improved its record to 4-0 in games decided by one run this season. The team has also stolen at least one base in 12 out of its first 13 games and remains perfect with 21 successful steals out of 21 attempts so far this year.
Bryce Fowler extended his hitting streak to eight games; Luke Vaughn increased his on-base streak to ten consecutive games; however, Justin Lebron’s twelve-game on-base streak ended during this match.
Attendance for Tuesday’s game was reported at 4,659 fans.
Next up for Alabama is an away matchup against Alabama State scheduled for Wednesday evening at 6 p.m., which will be streamed live on SWAC TV.
