Diamond Notes : Tuesday Pairing with Middle Tenn. Closes out Bama’s Current Homestand

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The Crimson Tide and Blue Raiders will meet for the 28th time in series history on Tuesday evening

3/11/2019

TUSCALOOSA, AL –
The Crimson Tide's current six-game homestand comes to a close on Tuesday when Alabama baseball hosts Middle Tennessee at Sewell-Thomas Stadium for a 6 p.m. CT matchup. Fans can catch all the action live on SEC Network+.

The Tuesday matchup with Middle Tennessee will feature the Crimson Tide's "$2 Tuesday" promotion. The deal is one of Alabama's season-long promotions at Sewell-Thomas Stadium. The "$2 Tuesday" promotion allows fans to purchase $2 general admission tickets at the gates or online. Once inside The Joe, those in attendance can take advantage of $2 hot dogs at all concession stands.

FOLLOW THE TIDE

Fans can follow Tuesday's game via the below outlets:


Watch: SEC Network+
Listen: 102.9 FM / CTSN / TuneIn App
Twitter: @AlabamaBSB
Live Stats: RollTide.com

PROBABLE PITCHING MATCHUPS

TUESDAY: UA – Tyler Ras (Fr., RHP) vs. MT – Drew Huff (Sr., RHP)

LEADING OFF

• Alabama and Middle Tennessee will meet for the 28th time in series history when the two teams square off on Tuesday night at Sewell-Thomas Stadium. The Crimson Tide holds the all-time series advantage, 18-9, as well as a 14-7 lead in games played in Tuscaloosa.
• The Tide and Blue Raiders last met on Feb. 20, 2018 at The Joe, with Alabama securing an 4-0 win in the midweek affair. The Crimson Tide used a combination of seven arms in the 4-0 shutout. Garret Rukes worked 2.0 innings and was followed by Brock Love, who added 2.0 innings of his own. Both players were making their first appearance since having season-ending elbow surgeries early in the season during the 2017 campaign. Tyler Adams earned his first win to highlight the effort from the other five arms.
• Alabama looks to freshman Tyler Ras in the midweek start. The right-hander will be making his fourth start and fifth appearance overall.
• Middle Tennessee will send right-hander Drew Huff to the mound on Tuesday. The senior will be making his first start of the season after tallying four appearances out of the bullpen so far this season.

ABOUT ALABAMA

• Alabama finished the week a perfect 5-0 this week at Sewell-Thomas Stadium and is currently riding an 11-game winning streak, the longest such streak for the Tide since 1999. The Crimson Tide first defeated in-state foe UAB on Tuesday before downing South Dakota State in extra innings on Wednesday. The weekend saw UA sweep Northern Kentucky, outscoring the Norse by a 34-6 margin.
• The Tide held on for a 4-3 win over UAB on Tuesday night. Alabama entered the ninth with three-run lead, but the Blazers drew a leadoff walk, singled and then tallied another walk to load the bases, forcing a UA pitching change. Jeremy Randolph was able to limit the damage, with the graduate closer stranding the tying runner at third with a strikeout looking to end the game in Alabama's favor at 4-3.
• Randolph earned his second save of the season while starter Garret Rukes tallied his first win on the year. The redshirt sophomore tossed 3.0 scoreless innings with three punchouts in the Tuesday effort. At the plate, senior Joe Breaux and sophomore Tyler Gentry each finished with three-hit performances, with Breaux adding a triple and a run while Gentry contributed a home run, one run scored and a team-high two RBI.
• Gentry's RBI-single in the 14th pushed Alabama past South Dakota State, 5-4, on Wednesday. Breaux led off the bottom of the 14th with a double to right-center and moved to third on a sacrifice bunt. After an intentional walk, Gentry came to the plate with the sophomore singling to left for the game-winning hit.
• The Tide took a 4-1 lead to the ninth, but a three-run rally by the Jackrabbits moved the game into extras. Randolph carried the Crimson Tide through the early innings, tossing 3.1 scoreless with only one walk and two hits allowed while striking out a season-high five batters. Kyle Cameron then took over, working 2.0 scoreless frames for the win. The redshirt junior allowed just one hit to keep the Jackrabbit offense at bay and allow his bats the time needed to push across the winning run.
• Alabama recorded a season-high 18 hits on the way to a 15-1 victory over Northern Kentucky on Friday. The Crimson Tide totaled a season-high 18 hits on the way to a season-best 15 runs in the series opener with the Norse. Eleven different players recorded at least one hit with four posting multi-hit efforts.
• The offense was led by junior Brett Auerbach, who finished a perfect 5-for-5 with two doubles, two runs scored and a team-high tying three RBI. The five-hit effort matched the Alabama program record for hits in a game and marked the 32nd five-hit game in Tide history.
• Not to be outdone were the Crimson Tide pitchers. Sam Finnerty was sharp once again, tossing 7.0 innings of one-run baseball. The senior gave up five hits while striking out six to match his career-high total for punchouts as a starter. Finnerty was followed by Dylan Smith and Dylan Oliver who both recorded 1.0 frame with one strikeout apiece while holding NKU hitless. The trio of arms did not issue a walk on the day, the first time Alabama has done so in a game this season.
• UA used a complete offensive effort 1-through-9 to down Northern Kentucky, 9-4, on Saturday. All nine Alabama hitters reached base safely on Saturday with seven of the nine recording at least one hit. The Tide also matched its season-high mark for walks with 10 and was hit by a season-leading four pitches. Eight of the nine starters also contributed at least one RBI while seven of the nine totaled at least one run scored. On the bases, the Tide was able to swipe three bases to match its season-high in that category, as well.
• Starter Brock Love picked up his second win in as many outings with 5.0 frames of one-run baseball. The redshirt junior allowed four hits and a walk while striking out six before handing it over to the bullpen.
• Alabama completed the series sweep of Northern Kentucky with a 10-1 win on Sunday afternoon. The Crimson Tide received a strong start from junior Wil Freeman. The right-hander allowed only one run on six hits and a walk with four strikeouts across a season-high 5.2 innings for the win.
• The Tide's offense recorded only six hits in the series finale but was able to draw a season-high 12 walks. Juniors Morgan McCullough and Johnny Hawk joined Gentry in drawing a team-high two walks apiece. Hawk and Gentry each added two runs scored while Gentry and McCullough contributed one RBI apiece. Freshman T.J. Reeves led Alabama in hits with a 2-for-3 showing that included one RBI and a run while senior Keith Holcombe paced the team in RBI thanks to his bases-clearing, three-RBI double.

ABOUT MIDDLE TENNESSEE

• Jim Toman is starting his first season with the Blue Raiders in 2019 and came to Murfreesboro with career record of 329-205-1 across his previous nine seasons as a head coach at Liberty. Toman is joined by associate head coach Kyle Bunn, assistant coach Blake Hunt and volunteer assistant coach John Panchella. Bunn spent one season as the pitching coach for the Crimson Tide in 2010 under Mitch Gaspard, helping UA to an NCAA Regional appearance.
• Middle Tennessee returns 20 letterwinners, including four positional starters, 13 pitchers and three starters, from the 2018 team that finished 27-27-1 overall and 12-17 in C-USA action to finish ninth overall. The 2019 roster is without 11 lettermen from a season ago, a number that includes four positional starters, three pitchers and one starting arm. The 2019 MTSU roster features 12 newcomers.
• The Blue Raiders were selected to finish 12th overall in Conference USA in the league's preseason poll, as voted on by the conference's head coaches.

ON DECK

The Crimson Tide will take to the road this weekend to begin Southeastern Conference play in Oxford for a three-game series with Ole Miss. The series is scheduled for a 6:30 p.m. start on Friday followed by a pair of 1:30 p.m. first pitches on both Saturday and Sunday. Fans can catch all the action live on SEC Network+.


-UA-



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