Alabama Baseball Sweeps Murray State

The Crimson Tide entered the weekend having lost four of their last five games, but now have a four game winning streak after sweeping Murray State over the weekend. The Racers were undefeated coming into the weekend and fell to 8-3 with the losses while the Tide improved to 9-4 on the season. Bama used excellent pitching and timely hitting to sweep the visitors.

Game One- Won 5-1

The story of game one was junior right handed pitcher Garrett McMillian. The Hillcrest and Shelton State product won his first game as a member of the Tide with six sparkling innings. RS-freshman Dylan Ray tossed the final three innings for his first save.

The Tide got on the board in the second, scoring twice. Tommy Seidl led off with a single, advanced on another single from Andrew Pinckney and scored on single by Owen Diodati. Pinckney raced home on a wild pitch for the early 2-0 lead. Through the first four innings McMillian had only allowed two infield singles as the Racers were not threatening to score. Pinckney was involved in pushing the lead out in the bottom of the fourth. The Peachtree City, GA product led off with a single, advanced on a ground out, and scored on a single from Caden Rose.

McMillian continued his strong outing through six innings, allowing only one more harmless single, and struck out the side in the top of the sixth. The Tide got on the board for the last time in the bottom half of the inning. Seidl led off with his first home run as a member of the Crimson Tide, but his second in Sewell-Thomas. In 2020 as a member of another team in Crimson, Harvard, Seidl hit a home run for the visitors against the Tide. Pinckney followed with a triple that just missed leaving the park and scored on another RBI single by Diodati.

With a pitch count of 91 and a 6-0 lead McMillian was replaced in the seventh by Dylan Ray. The Huntsville native struck out the side in the top of the seventh, but gave up a solo home run to Jacob Pennington in the eighth for the Racers only run of the game. McMillian earned the victory with his six shutout innings, allowing three hits, walking none, and striking out seven. Ray earned the three inning save, allowing the one hit with no walks and seven strikeouts.

The Tide was 11-32 with three walks, five strikeouts, five men left on base and committed one error. The Racers were 4-30 with no walks, 14 strikeouts, two men left on base, and committed two errors.

Offensively Pinckney and Seidl were the stars. Seidl was 3-4 with two runs scored, one RBI, and his home run. Pinckney was also 3-4 with three runs scored and a triple. Diodati finished 2-4 with two runs driven in.

Game Two- Won 6-1

Junior left hander Antoine Jean earned the start for the Tide in game two, facing off with Murray State right hander Cade Vernon. Bama got on the board in the bottom of the first when Jim Jarvis led off with a single, stole second, advanced to third on a ground out, and scored on a sacrifice fly from Drew Williamson. A lead off walk to Jacob Pennington in the top of the second came back to haunt Jean in the second. A one out double advanced the runner who then scored on a ground out to first when he beat the throw to the plate.

The Tide grabbed the lead back in the bottom of the third. Jarvis singled again, stole second again, and scored on a Williamson single. Jean had an uneventful third and fourth innings but got into trouble in the fifth. A lead off walk and a single put runners on first and second with no outs. Third baseman Zane Denton grabbed a hot shot and got out one at third base on a force play. Hunter Furtado was called in out of the bull pen and the lanky lefty shut the door with two strikeouts, blowing the hitters away with his 96 mph heater.

Bama added two runs in the fifth. Caden Rose led off with a bunt single and moved up on a single by Camden Hayslip. Jarvis laid down a perfect sac bunt to advance the runners. Tommy Seidl drove in one with a single and Dominic Tamez another on a bases loaded walk. Furtado continued mowing down Racer batters through the 6th, 7th, and 8th innings. The Tide added two more runs in the bottom of the 8th. Tamez led off with a double and Andrew Pinckney was hit by a pitch. Owen Diodati and Hayslip both singled in runs to end the scoring for the night. Right hander Hunter Hoopes took the mound for the Tide in the 9th and got to pop outs and a strikeout to end the game with the Tide winning 6-1.

The Tide hit 11-32, walked three times, struck out three times, and stranded eight runners on base. MSU was 3-31 with two walks, nine strikeouts, and six stranded runners. The Racers committed two errors in the game. Jarvis lead the Tide on offense with with 3-3 game with a walk, two stolen bases, and two runs scored. Hayslip was 2-4 with a run and an RBI in the first start of his career. Williamson drove in two. Furtado was the winning pitcher pitching 3.1 innings, striking out three and not allowing a walk or base hit. The Wake Forrest transfer improved to 2-1 on the season.

Game Three- Won 5-4

Sophomore left hander Grayson Hitt drew the starting assignment for Tide as they went for the sweep on Sunday. Hitt had a scoreless first and his teammates gave him a lead in the bottom of the first. Jarvis hit the first pitch he saw for a double to start the inning. The San Diego native advanced to third on a ground out and scored on a sacrifice fly to left by Zane Denton. Drew Williamson then singled and stole second base before scoring on a single by Dominic Tamez. The Tide manufacturing runs is a good sign as conference play looms on the horizon soon.

Hitt worked out of a jam in the second. Jacob Pennington led off with a single and Seth Garnder put down a sacrifice bunt. When Hitt went to field the bunt his feet flew out from under him and both runners were safe. A ground ball and two strikeouts ended the threat. Things did not go as well in the top of the third. Jordan Holly led off with a single and advanced to second on a wild pitch, then stole third. With one out Carson Garner singled in the first run for the Racers. Bryson Bloomer hit a tailor made double play ball to Jarvis at shortstop but the ball was thrown away into right field. With runners on first and third MSU sent the runners in motion and Hitt had an opportunity to throw the lead runner out at the plate but threw it high and off target to Tamez at the plate. A single plated the third run of the inning for MSU’s first lead of the weekend at 3-2.

Freshman righty Luke Holman replaced Hitt to start the fourth and worked around two walks and an error of his own and kept the Racers off the board. The Tide knotted the score in the bottom half without benefit of a hit. Andrew Pinckney was hit by a pitch to start the innings and advanced on a walk to Eric Foggo. A wild pitch advanced both men. Caden Rose hit a long fly ball to center for a sacrifice fly and RBI, plating Pinckney.

Holman pitched two more scoreless innings, retiring the last five batters he faced. Brock Guffey replaced Holman in the top of the sixth an had a perfect inning. In the bottom of the sixth the Tide got their last two runs. Pinckney reached on a fielders choice and then scored on Foggo’s first home run as a member of the team. The grad transfer from Stetson actually hit a home run against the Tide in Sewell-Thomas last year.
Guffey continued mowing down batters, retiring all nine hitters he faced in three sparkling innings.

Closer Landon Green was called on for the ninth but got in trouble early. A lead off bloop single was followed by a strikeout and a walk. With a 3-0 count on the next hitter coach Brad Bohannon called Hunter Hoopes out of the bullpen. Hoopes came all the way back from the 3-0 count to strike out the batter. A single on an 0-2 pitch scored a run to cut the lead to 5-4, but a fly ball to right field was hauled in to end the game with a 5-4 Alabama win.

The Tide hit 7-29, drew three walks, struck out twice, left six on base, and committed a very uncharacteristic three errors- really should have been four. MSU was 6-33 with five walks, 10 strikeouts, eight left on base and did not commit an error.

Guffey improved to 2-0 with his three perfect innings. Foggo was the offensive hero with his 2-3 day with two RBI, one run, a walk, and his game winning home run. Jarvis was 2-4 with a run and a double and Tamze was 2-4 with a run driven in.

Synopsis

After being swept by Texas last weekend and losing to UT-Martin on Tuesday the Tide has now knocked out four wins in a row. The Tide played clean on defense in the first two games, but not so much in game three. The pitching was outstanding for all three games. The offense did a much better job of manufacturing runs this weekend. Stolen bases, sacrifice bunts, sacrifice flies, and ground balls when needed were a site for sore eyes. Instead of waiting on the three run home run, the team went out and made something happen helping sweep the previously unbeaten Murray State team. Hayslip and Foggo both received their first starts of the year and both contributed to victories. The bullpen pitched a combined 13.2 innings over the weekend and allowed only three hits, four walks, 17 strikeouts and two runs. The starting pitchers tossed 13.1 innings, allowing 10 hits, three walks, 16 strikeouts, and four run, only two earned. The staff held MSU to 13-94 for a batting average of .138 despite the Racers entering the weekend with a batting average of .340. Bama finished 29-97 for a .278 average over the three games, drew six walks, struck out 10 times, left 19 on base, and made four errors on defense.

Who Did What ?

• Jim Jarvis 6-11, two stolen bases, sac bunt, walk, three runs
• Tommy Seidl 4-13, two runs, two RBI, home run
• Owen Diodati 3-9, walk, three RBI, stolen base
• Drew Williamson 3-10, two RBI, walk, stolen base, sac fly.
• Andrew Pinckney 3-10, triple, six runs., two HBP,
• Dominic Tamez 3-11 two RBI, run, walk
• Garrett McMillian Win, 6 IP 3 hits 0 walks 7 strikeouts
• Dylan Ray Save, 3 IP 1 hit 0 walks 7 strikeouts
• Hunter Furtado Win 3.2 IP 0 H 0 walks 3 strikeouts
• Brock Guffey Win 3 IP 0 H 0BB 1 strikeout
• Hunter Hoopes Save 1.2 IP 1 H 0 walks 2 strikeouts

Next up

Five games next week. Tuesday at 3 p.m. vs Middle Tennessee State, Wednesday at 3 p.m. vs North Alabama and a three game weekend set with Binghamton. All games are at home.

Roll Tide Bama Baseball Fever, Catch it

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