Diamond Notes : Bama Weekly Update

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Monday, March 20, 2006


Overall Record: 16-7 00-0 (.696)
Streak: Lost 1

Last Week: 3-1 (.750)
March 15 -- Alabama 13, No. 20 Southern Miss 3
March 17 -- Alabama 4, No. 23 Georgia 1 (Athens)
March 18 -- Alabama 5, No. 23 Georgia 3 (Athens)
March 19 -- No. 23 Georgia 6, Alabama 4 (Athens)

This Week:
March 22 -- vs. Troy (6:30 PM)
March 24 -- vs. No. 28 Ole Miss (6:30 PM)
March 25 -- vs. No. 28 Ole Miss (4 PM)
March 26 -- vs. No. 28 Ole Miss (2 PM)



Player of the Week Nomination
2 Emeel Salem (Jr., CF, 6-0, 180, Mountain Brook, Ala.)
Stats: 4 G, .471 (8-for-17), 2 R, 2B, 5 RBI, BB, 2 HBP, 2-2 SB
vs. Georgia: 3 G, .455 (5-for-11), 2 R, 2B, 2 RBI

Salem was the Tide’s leading hitter last week and in the series against Georgia. He batted .471 (8-for-17) in four games with a double and five RBI.
He went 3-for-6 with three RBI in Bama’s 13-3 win over Southern Miss on March 15.
He added three more hits in the Tide’s 4-1 win at Georgia on March 17 and drove in the winning run with a fifth-inning double against Brooks Brown.
Salem reached base 11 times in 20 plate appearances (.550) in four games last week.
He is currently riding a team-best six-game hitting streak.
For the season, Salem is batting a team-leading .337 (31-for-92) with 10 RBI.
He leads UA with 21 runs scored and eight doubles. Salem has also posted a .446 slugging percentage and a .435 on-base mark.


Pitcher of the Week Nomination
23 Wade LeBlanc (Jr., LHP, 6-3, 193, Lake Charles, La.)
Stats: 1 GS, 1-0, 1.00 ERA, 9 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 4 K)

LeBlanc recorded his 12th career complete game and second of the 2006 season with a 4-1 masterpiece against No. 23 Georgia in the SEC opener for both teams Friday, March 17 in Athens.
LeBlanc limited the SEC’s No. 2 hitting team (.329 avg) to four hits, including three singles. He lost his bid for his fifth complete game shutout when Gordan Beckham hit a solo home run with two outs in the ninth inning.
LeBlanc’s 120-pitch gem stopped Georgia’s six-game winning streak. The Bulldogs entered the game with by scoring 10 or more runs in six of their last seven games, including four in a row before running into the UA lefty in the series opener. The Bulldogs had also collected 10 or more hits in eight straight hits before being held to a season-low four hits in the series opener.
In his last two starts at No. 6 Nebraska and No. 23 Georgia, LeBlanc has allowed two earned runs and nine hits in 17 innings on the mound, with one walk and nine strikeouts.
Beckham’s solo home run in the ninth inning on Friday snapped his streak of 13 1/3 consecutive scoreless innings.
For the season, LeBlanc is 4-0 with a 1.60 in six starts. He has worked 45 innings and allowed 24 hits and eight earned runs, with six walks and 48 strikeouts, which paces the SEC.

BAMA BASEBALL NOTEBOOK:

Alabama just completed a stretch of seven straight games against Top 25 teams, including six road games. Alabama went 3-4 in those games. The Crimson Tide played back-to-back road series at No.6 Nebraska and No. 23 Georgia. For the season, Alabama is 4-6 against ranked teams.
The Crimson Tide was 3-1 this week against ranked teams, beating No. 20 Southern Miss and winning two of three games at No. 23 Georgia.
Alabama beat No. 20 Southern Miss 13-3 on March 15 in Tuscaloosa. It was the Crimson Tide’s 10th straight home win over the Golden Eagles. The 13-3 win was also Bama’s most lopsided win over a ranked opponent since beating No. 12 Auburn 19-0 on April 19, 2004.
The Crimson Tide won its first series in Athens since 1998 as they took two of three from No. 23 Bulldogs this weekend. After winning the first two games of the series (W 4-1, W 5-3), Alabama missed a chance at a sweep with a 6-4 loss on Sunday.
Junior LHP Wade LeBlanc (9 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 4 K) recorded his 12th career complete game in the series opener at Georgia. The junior came with one out of his seventh career shutout. In his last two starts against No. 6 Nebraska (8 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 K) and No. 23 Georgia, LeBlanc has allowed just two runs and nine hits in 17 innings, with one walk and 10 strikeouts.
LeBlanc closed out the win in the series opener by retiring 15 of the last 16 Georgia batters.
On Saturday, junior RHP Bernard Robert picked up where LeBlanc left off. Robert retired the first 14 batters in the game before losing his perfect game with a two-out walk in the fifth. He lost the no-hitter when the next batter singled up the middle with two outs.
Over the course of Friday and Saturday’s games, LeBlanc and Robert combined to retired 29 of 30 Georgic batters in a 10-inning stretch.
Alabama held Georgia, the SEC’s second-best hitting team to a .227 (22-for-97) in the series. Georgia scored only 10 runs in the three game. Prior to the UA series, Georgia had scored 10 or more runs in six of its last seven games, including its last four in a row.
Alabama snapped Georgia’s 12-game home winning streak in the series opener.
The Crimson Tide bullpen pitched well against the Bulldogs this weekend. The pen allowed one run and four hits in 6 1/3 innings, with one walk and four strikeouts. Sophomore RHP David Robertson struck out the side in the ninth inning on Saturday for his team-leading fifth save of the year.
After playing seven of its last eight games on the road, Alabama returns to Sewell-Thomas Stadium on Wednesday, March 22 to open a nine-game homestand against Troy (Mar. 22), Ole Miss (Mar. 24-26), Lipscomb (Mar. 29), Miss. State (Mar. 30-April 2) and UAB (April 5).
The Crimson Tide will seek its 1,000th all-time win at the Joe when they host Troy this Wednesday night. Alabama is currently 999-427-2 (.700) all-time at Sewell-Thomas Stadium since 1948.
Alabama will host the Troy Trojans on Wednesday, March 22 in Tuscaloosa. This will be the first meeting between the two schools since 1999, when the Tide swept a double header in Tuscaloosa. Troy’s last win came in 1998 at Troy. The Crimson Tide leads the all-time series 12-3.
Troy’s head coach Bobby Pierce (1980-81) was a two-year starter for Dr. Barry Shollenberger at the Capstone. He was a 1981 First-Team All-SEC Western Division selection in the outfield. Pierce later served as an assistant coach under Shollenberger (1991-94) before taking the head job at UA Huntsville before moving to Troy.
Alabama plays its first home SEC series next weekend against Ole Miss. The Crimson Tide leads the all-time series with the Rebels, 185-128-1. Alabama took two of three at Ole Miss last season, its first series win over the Rebels since 2000 and its first win in Oxford since 1997. The Crimson Tide has not won a home series with Ole Miss since 2000, dropping the last two series (2002, 2004) at the Joe.
Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco was a player at LSU when Jim Wells served as a graduate assistant coach under Skip Bertman. When Wells was named head coach at Northwestern State in 1990, Bianco joined him for two years as a graduate assistant coach.

(Courtesy Barry Allen University of Alabama Media Relations)

RTR,

Diamond Tide

[alatider]

I, for one, really appreciate you taking the time and effort to keep us abreast of what's going on with the baseball team.

Thanks.