Tide Takes Down Troy Trojans

The Alabama Crimson Tide finished the midweek portion of their season with a 7-2 victory over the Troy Trojans on Tuesday night in a game that was twice delayed by weather. First pitch was pushed back 45 minutes for a rain storm that never came. Later the game was halted for 30 minutes for lightening in the area. The game was played in the home of the Montgomery Biscuits, Riverwalk Stadium. With the win Bama finished the season with an 12-1 mark in midweek games, a huge improvement over recent season. Alabama is now 33-16 and ranked 14th in RPI, while Troy fell to 33-17. The Trojans RPI fell from 32 to 37 with the defeat.

Junior left-hander Hunter Furtado drew the starting assignment on the mound, facing Noah Manning for Troy. The Trojans took an early lead in the top of the 2nd when Caleb Bartolero led off with a double, advanced on a wild pitch, and scored on a ground out by William Sullivan. Furtado allowed another run in the 4th on a one out walk in two out double before being replaced by Aidan Moza. Moza got a strikeout to strand the runner and keep the deficit at 2-0.

The Tide got on the board in the bottom of the 4th with a two out rally. With two outs Ed Johnson singled and scored on a single by Bryce Eblin thanks to two miscues by the Trojans. The right fielder misplayed the hit, then doubled down and made a wild throw allowing Johnson to cross the plate. Bama took the lead in the bottom of the 5th. Jim Jarvis led off with a triple and scored on a sacrifice fly by Tommy Seidl. With two outs the Tide manufactured a run when Andrew Pinckney singled, stole second, continued to third on an overthrow, and speed home as the keystone cop Trojans botched the overthrow.

Moza remained in the game through the 5th and 6th inning, holding Troy scoreless. Before the Tide could come to bat in the bottom of the 6th, the umpires halted the game for lightening that apparently only they could see. When the mandatory 30 minute wait was completed the game resumed.

Bama tallied three runs in the 6th with a lot of help from Troy. Colby Shelton started things with a walk, and was promptly balked to second. Johnson also drew a walk, followed by an RBI double by Eblin. Eblin squared to bunt, but drew back and hit the ball over the right fielders head for the run scoring hit. A Trojan wild pitch brought Johnson home and advanced Eblin to third. Jarvis walked, and on a pick off attempt Eblin scooted home when the ball was thrown away. Moza was replaced by Braylon Myers in the 7th and had an uneventful inning.Alabama scored the last run of the game in the bottom of the 7th when Drew Williamson led off with his 14th home run of the year.

Hunter Hoopes took over on the mound in the 8th and pitched the final two scoreless innings while hitting one, allowing one hit, and striking out three batters. Moza was the winning pitcher with his 2.1 scoreless frames with one hit allowed, one walk, and three strikeouts.

Alabama hit 11-33 in the game with three doubles, a triple, and a home run, while drawing four walks, striking out seven times, and leaving eight men on base. Eblin finished 3-4 with a double, RBI, and run scored. Seidl was 2-3 with a double, sacrifice fly, and RBI. Williamson was 2-4 with his home run and Pinckney joined the two hit brigade with his 2-4 game and run scored. Moza improved to 2-1 with the win. Tide relief pitchers combined for 5.1 innings pitched allowing only two hits with one walk and six strikeouts.

Troy hit 4-30 in the game, had three walks, two hit batters, struck out 13 times and left six men on base. Matt Mercer was the losing pitcher and now has a recored of 1-1.

Another good midweek win for the Tide, finishing the year 12-1 in such contests. In addition Bama finished the regular season with a 22-3 record in out of conference games. The Alabama resume for post season continues to improve as their RPI continues to rise. If the team can take care of business over the next two weekends and in the SEC Tournament they have a chance to do some big things. At this point 40 wins isn't out of the question, a total the Tide has not reached since the 2010 team finished 42-25 and just missed an Omaha trip.

Next up is a trip to College Station to take on the Texas A&M Aggies in a three game set. The games are at 6 p.m. on Friday, 2 p.m. on Saturday, and 3 p.m on Sunday. The first two games will be available on SEC Network Plus while the series finale will be shown on the SEC Network.

Roll Tide

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