After opening the NCAA Tournament with a 6-3 win over Central Florida last night, Alabama will take on host Florida State tonight in Tallahassee. A ten strikeout performance from Nathan Kilcrease helped Alabama advance to the winners bracket, and Mitch Gaspard will hope for the same kind of performance tonight out of Adam Morgan. Meanwhile, the Seminoles advanced to the winners bracket after narrowly edging out Bethune Cookman 6-5 yesterday, and they will send junior Sean Gilmartin to the mound.

For better or for worse, the winner of tonight's game will be the odds-on favorite to advance to the Super Regionals next weekend, and 'Bama needs the win badly tonight if the legitimately expect to advance. The game is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. central time, so chime in here with all of your thoughts and comments on the action. Click here to watch live.

Editor's Note: There was a slight rain delay earlier today in Tallahassee, which will move the start time of the 'Bama v. FSU game back a bit. First pitch is 50 minutes after Central Florida v. Bethune-Cookman ends.

Baseball Falls to No. 3 Florida in SEC Tournament Second Round

Hudson Randall allowed four hits in eight innings to lead the No. 3-ranked Florida Gators to a 6-0 win over Alabama on Thursday in the second round of the 2011 Southeastern Conference Baseball Tournament from Regions Park. With the loss the Crimson Tide falls to 33-25, Florida improved to 43-15 overall.

Alabama was held to five singles in the game, as center fielder Taylor Dugas and designated hitter Brett Whitaker had two hits each. Josh Sanders was 1-for-3. After a leadoff walk to Dugas to start the game, Randall allowed one hit over his first five innings en route to the victory and improved to 9-3 on the season.

Alabama's starting pitcher Adam Morgan (5-6) took the loss, lasting 3.1 innings for his shortest outing of the season. Morgan allowed five runs (four earned) on seven hits with a strikeout before giving way to Taylor Wolfe. Wolfe finished the game, throwing 5.2 innings allowing just one earned run on four hits with three strikeouts.

UPDATE: Arkansas eliminates Alabama with a score of 4-1.

Baseball Defeats No. 18 Arkansas 7-4 To Open SEC Tournament

"Nathan (Kilcrease) has delivered for us time and time again, and today was no different," UA head coach Mitch Gaspard said. "It seems like every time we need one, he gives us one of his best outings. Today he had the most strikeouts he's had in a game, and it came against an SEC opponent. I thought our team competed really hard, and in an early game, came out ready to play."

"We got off to a really quick start in the game with a really good first inning," Gaspard said. "I thought the balk really energized us and got us started, then we delivered some key hits after that and took advantage of some opportunities to get off to a 5-0 lead. With Kilcrease on the mound we felt pretty good, cause we knew he would pound the strike zone and carry us the rest of the way."

UPDATE: The Tide takes down Arkansas 7-4, will move on to face the winner of Florida/Mississippi State tomorrow at 4:30pm.

From the rolltide.com preview:

Arkansas Razorbacks at a Glance
The Arkansas Razorbacks enter the SEC Baseball Tournament as the No. 2 seed after winning the Western Division regular season title with a 15-15 record. Arkansas scored three runs in the sixth inning on Saturday to defeat Mississippi 5-3 to finish alone at the top of the West standings. Arkansas, 36-18 overall, is ranked No. 18 in the NCBWA and ESPN/USA Today Coaches polls, No. 22 in the Collegiate Baseball News rankings, and No. 23 by Baseball America. As a team, Arkansas is 12th in the SEC with a .270 batting average. Only two regular players are hitting over .300 this season, with freshman first baseman Dominic Ficociello leading the way with a .359 average. Ficociello also leads the team with 57 RBI and 15 doubles. Catcher James McCann is hitting .309 with six home runs, 29 RBI and 33 runs scored. Kyle Robinson has eight home runs to lead the team and Collin Kuhn has seven round trippers. DJ Baxendale has been the star on the mound, posting an 8-2 record with a 1.62 ERA. Baxendale has 67 strikeouts and16  walks in 72.1 innings. Randall Fant has a 3-3 record with a 3.24 ERA in 66.2 innings pitched. Brandon Moore, who leads the team with 11 starts this season, has a 4-1 record with a 3.97 ERA in 56.2 innings.

Last night, Alabama baseball beat the nation's No. 2 team, South Carolina, 2-1 to propell the squad into the SEC Tournament next week. The win improved Alabama's record to 32-22 overall and 14-14 in SEC play, leading the Western Division.

Senior right hander Nathan Kilcrease held the Gamecocks to a season-low five hits and allowed just a single run in the victory at Sewell-Thomas Stadium. It was his second complete game of the season and the 21st win of his career.

"You never want to go out as a senior class and not make it to the SEC Tournament," Kilcrease said following the game. "That's what was in the back of my mind the whole game: getting us to the tournament."

Alabama and South Carolina continue their series tonight at Sewell-Thomas stadium at 6:35 p.m. and the final game is Saturday at 12:05 p.m. The 2011 SEC Baseball Tournament will be held May 25-29 at Regions Park Stadium in Hoover, AL. More info on the tournament and how the final weekend of play will affect it can be found over at Team Speed Kills.

Game One - 5-4 (10) | Box Score - Recap
Game Two - 5-4 | Box Score

Considering this is Alabama, there's no doubt that athletics are going to play a big role in recovery, and every bit of good news we can get on that front is going right on the front page whether we like the sport or not.  Despite everything going on at home, the Crimson Tide baseball team got back to work this afternoon in Starkville, sweeping the Bulldogs and taking the weekend series with identical 5-4 scores in both games.  Game one went into extra innings, and Tide pinch-hitter Brett Whitaker picked a perfect time to get his first hit of the season after eight at bats this year with nothing to show for it.  His solo shot homer over the left center field wall in the top of the tenth lifted the Tide to victory. In game two, the Tide fell behind 4-3 after giving up two runs in the bottom of the 7th, but a two run top of the eighth gave Alabama the final 5-4 margin.  The Tide now sit at 28-18 (10-10) on the season.  First pitch for Game Three is scheduled for tomorrow at 1:30pm CST.

No. 19 Baseball Set to Host Samford Tuesday - rolltide.com

Game 31
Tuesday, April 4 - 6:05pm CST
#19 Alabama (21-9, 7-2 SEC) vs. Samford (19-11, 8-4 SoCon)
Sewell-Thomas Stadium (6,571) • Tuscaloosa, Ala.

Radio: Crimson Tide Sports Network (CTSN)
Announcers: Chris Stewart and Lee Tracey
Stations: WFFN-FM 95.3, WTSK-AM 790- Tuscaloosa, and CTSN Affiliates

After taking 2 of 3 from Arkansas the Crimson Tide took a step up in the polls, reaching as high as #19 in the Baseball America Top 25, and cemented their place atop the SEC West. The Tide plays host to Samford tonight before hitting the road to take on #1 Vanderbilt over the weekend.  You can tune in via the Crimson Tide Radio Network, Gametracker, or Tide TV.

Update: Well, that sucked. Maybe we should stop paying attention to baseball?

From RollTide.com:

The Crimson Tide will send junior left-hander Adam Morgan (17 GS, 7-4, 5.52 ERA) to the mound in Sunday's game. Morgan has two complete game wins this postseason against Florida and Georgia Tech. Clemson will counter with sophomore right-hander Scott Weismann (16 GS, 7-2, 5.13 ERA).

After the upset victory over Clemson last night in the opening game of the Super Regional, Alabama finds itself one win away from Omaha. The aforementioned Adam Morgan will be taking the mound for the Crimson Tide, and Nathan Kilcrease may see some time in relief, though any relief appearance for him will have to be balanced against the potential need to start him on Monday if game two turns sour.

To say that this is a golden opportunity for Alabama is an understatement. As welcoming as the win was last night, the Tide actually played pretty poorly and would have lost had it not been for a couple of costly mistakes by Clemson on otherwise routine plays. Taylor Dugas had a great night from the lead-off spot, but the two, three, and four hitters combined to go 0-10 without even drawing a walk. The key to the victory was the four runs posted in the third inning, but that rally was fueled not so much by the Tide bats but instead by the usually stellar Clemson defense booting two ground balls.

Nevertheless, take advantage of what you get. Alabama didn't play well but nevertheless still finds itself only needing a split to get to Omaha, so hopefully it all comes together for the Tide tonight. First pitch is set tonight for 6:00 CST. Chime in here with all of your thoughts.