The Alabama baseball team squeaked out a 2-1 win over the Alabama State Hornets on Wednesday afternoon at Sewell-Thomas Field. The Tide used outstanding pitching to overcome an anemic offense to pull off their second one run win over an instate rival in two days. Bama defeated Samford 3-2 on the road Tuesday. Alabama improved to 4-1 and ASU fell to 2-2 on the season.
Freshman left handed Luke Smyers received his first start of his career for the Tide. ASU countered with Jaxon Baptist. Smyers walked one and struck out two in the first inning. Bama got a two out single from Johnny Lemm in the bottom half, one of only five hits for the home team in the game.
Smyers allowed a run in the second inning, his last frame of the game. Breydon Divine lined an RBI single to put the Hornets ahead. The Tide got a walk to Andrew Purdy and a single by Peyton Steele in the second, but back to back strikeouts ended the threat. Sam Mitchell took over for Smyers in the third and worked around a two out walk and single to keep Alabama State from adding to their lead. Bama tied the game in the third without the benefit of a hit. Justin LeBron walked with one out then stole second base. With LeBron taking a big lead at second, and certainly about to head to third, Baptist tried a pick off play at second. LeBron immediately took off for third and easily scored when Baptist’s throw sailed into centerfield.
Senior right hander Bobby Alcock took the mound for the Tide in the 4th and 5th and struck out three while allowing one hit and hitting one batter. Alabama went down in order in the 4th, but scored the go ahead run in the fifth inning. Eric Hines led off with a single, the first hit of his career. Brennan Holt singled to advance Hines to third. Hines then raced home on a passed ball with what turned out to be the winning run. Holt swiped second base and moved to third prior on the passed ball. LeBron walked again with one out and again stole second base. Back to back strikeouts to Lemm and Jason Torres stranded the two men in scoring position.
Evan Steckmesser replaced Alcock and worked two innings of two hit ball with three strikeouts. Steckmesser worked out of a jam in his first inning of work after the first two hitters blooped singles and advanced on a sacrifice fly bunt. Back to back strikeouts ended the threat. Over the next three innings the Tide never threatened with a Holt double being the only base runner they could manage.
Kaden Humphrey made his Alabama debut in the 8th inning. Projected as the Tide closer this season, Humphrey has been battling an injury and it was good to finally see him on the mound. Humphrey needed only 10 pitches to retire the Hornets in order with two fly outs and a strikeout. Matthew Heiberger took over in the ninth and earned his first save of the year with two strikeouts and a pop up to the pitcher to end the game. Alcock was the winning pitcher.
Alabama hit only 5-20 in the game with four walks in a terrible offensive exhibition. The Tide struck out 13 times against a team that’s pitching staff didn’t have anyone break 90 miles an hour. Bama left seven on base and committed one error. Holt was 2-3 with a double and stolen base. Hines, Steele, and Lemm had the other safeties. LeBron walked twice, stole three bases, and scored a run and also struck out for the first time this season. Purdy walking twice was the only other player that reached base. The pitching on the other hand was outstanding once again, allowing seven hits walking three, and striking out 13 batters. ASU stranded nine runners on base.
Alabama hosts Rhode Island this weekend in a three game series. The Tide is going to have to figure out things offensively, if that is lineup changes or a change in approach. In the two wins this week the team collected a total of nine hits and scored five runs. Going forward against better competition, especially when SEC play begins, that will not work. Hopefully the teams will see some balls fall this weekend and gain confidence going forward. They definitely need some double digit run games in this series before going on to play Southern Miss and the Frisco Tournament.
Roll Tide
BamaBaseballFever,CatchIt!
