The Tide earned its second shutout victory of the season on Wednesday
3/7/2018
TUSCALOOSA, AL – Five Crimson Tide pitchers combined for a two-hit shutout win over No. 15 Southern Miss by a score of 3-0 on Wednesday night at Sewell-Thomas Stadium. With a second shutout victory on the year, Alabama improves to 11-2 overall, including a 9-0 record at home, the longest home winning streak since the 2010 season.
"It was a good win," said Alabama head coach Brad Bohannon. "I told the kids yesterday that if we want to be the team that I think we can be, the two things that we have to do are: We have to consistently play really good baseball, and we have to beat some really quality teams. If you beat multiple good teams over time, then you are pretty good; (Southern Miss) is a very good club. I didn't think we were exceptionally sharp today, offensively, but obviously we threw a shutout with five guys pitching, and I was really excited about our staff tonight."
Alabama's pitching shut down the powerful Southern Miss offense, beginning with redshirt freshman Garrett Rukes throwing 3.0 innings of scoreless baseball in his start. Rukes was replaced by redshirt sophomore Brock Love (1-0), who worked 2.0 frames of no-hit baseball, striking out a team-high three batters en route to earning his first win of the season.
Junior Mason Duke followed with 1.0 inning of work, before sophomore Deacon Medders hurled 2.0 innings. Left-hander Dylan Duarte closed out the game with his first save of the season, as the junior pitched the final inning to secure the win for the Tide.
Both teams went scoreless early, until the bottom of the fourth when Alabama got on the board. Senior Hunter Alexander doubled to lead off the inning and was followed by a bunt single from Keith Holcombe, a junior, to put runners on the corners. Alexander later came in for the game's first run, as fellow senior Chandler Avant doubled in the Tide's designated hitter to give the home team the lead. Junior Jett Manning crossed the second run of the inning one out later, sending a sacrifice fly to left to bring in Holcombe and make it a 2-0 Crimson Tide lead after four.
Alabama added one insurance run in the bottom of the seventh. Manning led off the inning with a walk and then stole second to put himself in scoring position. A groundout to short moved Manning to third before a fielder's choice infield grounder from sophomore Walker McCleney resulted in a throw to the plate, with Manning avoiding the tag for a run and make it a 3-0 affair after seven, the eventual final.
The Crimson Tide hitters were led by Avant, with the second baseman finishing 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI. The two-hit performance was Avant's team-leading ninth of the season.
Next up for Alabama is a three-game weekend series with New Mexico State from March 9-11, as a part of the Tide's nine-game homestand. The Crimson Tide and Aggies are scheduled for a 6 p.m. CT first pitch on Friday followed by a 2 p.m. start on Saturday. The series finale on Sunday is slated for 1 p.m. CT. All three games at The Joe will air live on SEC Network+.
Get all the latest information on the team by following @AlabamaBSB on Twitter and Instagram and on Facebook at Alabama Baseball. General athletic news can be found at UA_Athletics on Twitter and Instagram and AlabamaAthletics on Facebook.
-UA-
RTR,
Diamond Tide :biga:
3/7/2018
TUSCALOOSA, AL – Five Crimson Tide pitchers combined for a two-hit shutout win over No. 15 Southern Miss by a score of 3-0 on Wednesday night at Sewell-Thomas Stadium. With a second shutout victory on the year, Alabama improves to 11-2 overall, including a 9-0 record at home, the longest home winning streak since the 2010 season.
"It was a good win," said Alabama head coach Brad Bohannon. "I told the kids yesterday that if we want to be the team that I think we can be, the two things that we have to do are: We have to consistently play really good baseball, and we have to beat some really quality teams. If you beat multiple good teams over time, then you are pretty good; (Southern Miss) is a very good club. I didn't think we were exceptionally sharp today, offensively, but obviously we threw a shutout with five guys pitching, and I was really excited about our staff tonight."
Alabama's pitching shut down the powerful Southern Miss offense, beginning with redshirt freshman Garrett Rukes throwing 3.0 innings of scoreless baseball in his start. Rukes was replaced by redshirt sophomore Brock Love (1-0), who worked 2.0 frames of no-hit baseball, striking out a team-high three batters en route to earning his first win of the season.
Junior Mason Duke followed with 1.0 inning of work, before sophomore Deacon Medders hurled 2.0 innings. Left-hander Dylan Duarte closed out the game with his first save of the season, as the junior pitched the final inning to secure the win for the Tide.
Both teams went scoreless early, until the bottom of the fourth when Alabama got on the board. Senior Hunter Alexander doubled to lead off the inning and was followed by a bunt single from Keith Holcombe, a junior, to put runners on the corners. Alexander later came in for the game's first run, as fellow senior Chandler Avant doubled in the Tide's designated hitter to give the home team the lead. Junior Jett Manning crossed the second run of the inning one out later, sending a sacrifice fly to left to bring in Holcombe and make it a 2-0 Crimson Tide lead after four.
Alabama added one insurance run in the bottom of the seventh. Manning led off the inning with a walk and then stole second to put himself in scoring position. A groundout to short moved Manning to third before a fielder's choice infield grounder from sophomore Walker McCleney resulted in a throw to the plate, with Manning avoiding the tag for a run and make it a 3-0 affair after seven, the eventual final.
The Crimson Tide hitters were led by Avant, with the second baseman finishing 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI. The two-hit performance was Avant's team-leading ninth of the season.
Next up for Alabama is a three-game weekend series with New Mexico State from March 9-11, as a part of the Tide's nine-game homestand. The Crimson Tide and Aggies are scheduled for a 6 p.m. CT first pitch on Friday followed by a 2 p.m. start on Saturday. The series finale on Sunday is slated for 1 p.m. CT. All three games at The Joe will air live on SEC Network+.
Get all the latest information on the team by following @AlabamaBSB on Twitter and Instagram and on Facebook at Alabama Baseball. General athletic news can be found at UA_Athletics on Twitter and Instagram and AlabamaAthletics on Facebook.
-UA-
RTR,
Diamond Tide :biga:
