Alabama Baseball Routs Southern Miss

The Alabama Crimson Tide baseball team routed the Southern Miss Golden Eagles by a score of 13-0 on Tuesday night. The Tide remains undefeated in midweek games at 10-0 and is now 24-10 overall. The Eagles, with an RPI of 30 entering todays game, are the highest regarded team the Tide has played out of conference. USM fell to 19-12 on the season. Bama coach Brad Bohannon was able to utilize 16 position players and six pitchers in the game, while the Eagles used 15 position players and eight pitchers.

Super senior Jacob McNairy started his eighth game of the year on the mound for the Tide and was matched up against freshman JB Middleton for Southern Miss. McNairy hit the second batter of the game but used two groundouts and a strikeout to get out of the first inning. Bama scored the only runs they would need in the bottom of the first. Jim Jarvis led off with a single and advanced to second on a walk to Tommy Seidl. Drew Williamson singled to scored Jarvis, one of four hits in the game by the big first baseman. After Ed Johnson bunted Seidl and Williamson up 90 feet apiece, William Hamiter hit a sacrifice fly to left field to plate Seidl for a quick 2-0 lead.

McNairy had a base runner reach on an error in the 2nd, and on a single in the third, before having a perfect 4th with two strikeouts. In the top of the 5th the Eagles used a one out single and a two out double to put runners on second and third. Zane Probst was called in to hold the lead and induced a pop up to Jarvis at shortstop to strand the tying runs in scoring position.

The Tide put the game out of reach in the bottom of the 5th. Freshman Colby Shelton, battling a slump that saw him moved to 9th in the order, led off with his team-leading 13th home run of the season. Jarvis walked and Seidl was hit by a pitch causing USM to bring Isaiah Rhodes out of the pen to replace Luke Trahan. Williamson singled, then Johnson drilled a two run single to centerfield. Hamiter walked to load the bases and Dominic Tamez drove a run in with a ground out to third base. Will Hodo then smoked a line drive double that almost took the head off the second baseman, who was playing in to try and cut the runner down at the plate. A walk to Andrew Pinckney brought Shelton to the plate for the second time in the inning, and he was hit with a pitch. Jarvis drove a long drive to right field that was hauled in just short of the wall for a sacrifice fly and run driven in. When the inning ended Bama had sent 12 men to the plate and scored seven times for a 9-0 lead.

Hunter Furtado, Riley Quick, Alton Davis II, and Aidan Moza followed McNairy and Probst on the mound and all pitched scoreless innings without allowing any hits. The final four pitchers all touched 95-97 during their stints on the hill. The Tide added two runs in the 6th on a double by Hamiter, and two in the 8th on a double by Pinckney, bringing the final score to 13-0.

The Tide hit 13-34 off of the eight Eagle hurlers, and drew eight walks, had two hit batsmen, struck out six times, and left 10 men on base. Williamson led the way with a 4-5 night with two runs scored and one driven in. The big first baseman flew out in his last at bat as he tried to tie the school record (held by many) for hits in a game with five. Pinckney was 2-4 with a walk, a double, and two RBI. Johnson had a productive 2-2 game with a sac bunt, a run scored, and two driven in. Hamiter drove in three runs with his 1-2, one walk, one double, one sacrifice fly, night. Shelton slammed his team-high 13th home run of the season. Grad transfer Ryan Guardino became the final position player on the team to record a hit when he had a pinch hit double in the 8th. Eight players had hits, 10 players scored runs, and 12 players reached base. Johnson extended his hitting streak to nine games while Seidl had his streak broken at eight games.

Southern Miss could only manage to hit 3-31 with two walks, one hit batter, struck out eight times, and left seven men on base. McNairy improved to 5-1 with the victory while Middleton fell to 0-3 in taking the loss.

This was a good win against a quality opponent. The Tide was sharp in all areas of the game. The pitchers consistently controlled the Eagles throughout the game, the out recorded by Probst with the tying runs on base the biggest moment. The bullpen was crushed this past weekend in the series loss to Mississippi State but bounced back tonight, combining for 4.1 hitless innings with two walks and four strikeouts. The hitters took the walks that were there and did a much better job of driving in runs with players in scoring position. Overall a complete team win as Bama continues to take care of their business in midweek. Now that needs to carry over to the weekend SEC series. Next up is a visit from the Auburn Tigers this weekend. Alabama and Auburn are both 4-8 in league play, so this is a crucial matchup. Friday and Saturday the games are set for 6 p.m. while Sunday’s game three will start at 1 p.m. All games will be available on the SEC Network Plus.

Roll Tide