Since some of you are interested in a few baseball updates here and there...
After a terrible start to the baseball season -- swept in the SEC opener by Kentucky and then hammered by lowly UNO in a two game mid-week series -- things looked like they were going to get ugly. And with Vanderbilt and Ole Miss on the schedule in the next two weekends, it seemed like the worst was yet to come.
When Vanderbilt came to town, they took the Friday night game 2-1 in a surprisingly close pitcher's duel. After a very surprising 9-7 win by Alabama on Saturday, the Tide followed up that strong performance with a 10-3 victory on Sunday to take the series from the Commodores.
It all may very well be a fluke, but it's nevertheless nice to see. At the very least, we played competent baseball this weekend -- which is far better than the Little League play we had showcased the past few weeks -- and looked pretty good at times. Taking a series from Vanderbilt is pretty impressive, especially considering the Commodores won the conference last year and that they are ranked in the top ten of just about every single college baseball poll.
Things still aren't looking all of that good for the Tide, which still sits at just .500 overall and only 2-4 in conference play, but it's a positive development. I said a couple of days ago that we should all be fairly happy if we go to Baton Rouge in two weeks with anything north of a 1-8 conference record, and we've surpassed that this weekend alone. Hopefully it's a sign that things will start to improve.
Baseball will resume mid-week with a home and away series against Jacksonville State, and next weekend the Ole Miss Rebels -- who came into this weekend a top ten team before losing a series at home against Florida -- will come to Tuscaloosa for another three game series.