Diamond Notes : In-State Matchup On Deck as Alabama Heads to Birmingham to Face UAB

Diamond Tide

Baseball Moderator
Staff member
Jun 23, 2000
2,702
163
232
Tuscaloosa , AL USA
diamondtide.tidefans.com
The Crimson Tide and Blazers will meet for the 78th time in series history on Tuesday night

4/15/2019

TUSCALOOSA, AL –
Alabama baseball wraps up its current five-game road trip with a visit to Birmingham to take on UAB at Regions Field. The Crimson Tide and Blazers are scheduled for a 6:30 p.m. CT first pitch on Conference USA TV.

FOLLOW THE TIDE

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


Watch: Conference USA TV ($)
Listen: 102.9 FM / CTSN / TuneIn App
Twitter: @AlabamaBSB
Live Stats: UABSports.com

PROBABLE PITCHING MATCHUP

TUESDAY: UA – Tyler Ras (Fr., RHP) vs. UAB – Riley Davis (So., RHP)

LEADING OFF

• Alabama and UAB will meet for the 78th time in series history when the two teams square off on Tuesday night at Regions Field to complete this season's home-and-home split. The Crimson Tide holds the all-time series advantage, 52-25, and maintain a lead in Birmingham, 17-10. That mark includes the Tide's 3-2 record at Regions Field, home to the Double-A Birmingham Barons.
• The two in-state foes met earlier this season at Sewell-Thomas Stadium, with Alabama holding on for the 4-3 win on March 5. The Tide entered the ninth with a three-run lead, but the Blazers loaded the bases to force a pitching change. Jeremy Randolph was able to limit the damage, stranding the tying run at third with a strikeout looking to end the game. Joe Breaux and Tyler Gentry each contributed three-hit performances, with Breaux adding a triple and a run scored while Gentry homered to go with a run scored and a team-high two RBI.
• Alabama sends right-hander Tyler Ras to the mound on Tuesday. The freshman has made eight starts and 10 total appearances this season, going 1-2 with a 3.33 ERA (9 ER/24.1 IP) in those outings.
• UAB calls on a sophomore in Riley Davis for the midweek pairing. The righty is 3-1 on the season with a 6.84 ERA (20 ER/26.1 IP) across his 15 appearances, including one start.

ABOUT ALABAMA

• Alabama wrapped up the week at 1-3. The Crimson Tide first defeated Samford in a record-breaking 21-2 win before falling in three consecutive games over the weekend at fifth-ranked Mississippi State.
• Nineteen hits, including nine home runs, powered the Crimson Tide to a 21-2 victory over Samford on Tuesday night at Joe Lee Griffin Stadium. Alabama recorded a season-high 19 hits with 13 of those going for extra bases. The Tide bats notched nine home runs, three doubles and a triple on the way to 21 runs.
• Everyone got in on the offensive show in Birmingham with 11 total players recording at least one hit against the Bulldogs. Seven of those players contributed to the Crimson Tide's nine homers, the most in a single game since UA's 13 against UAB on April 14, 1999.
• Freshman T.J. Reeves and junior Tyler Gentry each homered twice. Joining them with roundtrippers were juniors Brett Auerbach, Johnny Hawk and Morgan McCullough along with freshmen Tyler Ras and Drew Williamson who each registered one apiece. Williamson led the Tide in hits with a perfect 3-for-3 night that saw him fall a double short of the cycle. He added a team-high tying three runs scored to go with his two RBI and walk. Matching Williamson with three runs was Gentry. The duo of Reeves and Auerbach tied for the team-lead in RBI with four to cap off the huge scoring night.
• Alabama gained an early advantage with one run in the first. Then the Tide opened the flood gates. A record-setting third inning saw Alabama score 13 runs on 11 hits, two walks and a hit-by-pitch. The 11 hits set a new record for an inning, highlighted by the Crimson Tide's program-record five home runs in the frame to go with three doubles and a triple. Following a flyout to start the inning, Reeves, McCullough and Gentry homered in back-to-back-to-back at-bats, the first time UA had done so since April 27, 2008, against Auburn.
• The three home runs kickstarted an eventual stretch of nine straight hits to set a new record for consecutive hits in an inning, surpassing the previous total of eight. Things wrapped up at 14-0 through three frames following the 13-run inning. Those 13 runs were the most in a single inning by Alabama since the Tide's 14 against Louisiana Tech on Feb. 24, 1999. The Crimson Tide finished the third with 31 total bases for a new program record, surpassing the mark of 23 from the March 7, 1999, contest against Niagara.
• Not to be overshadowed on Tuesday was the strong performance on the mound by the Alabama pitchers. Garret Rukes earned his second win of the season with 3.0 innings of one-hit baseball. The redshirt sophomore issued one walk and struck out one before handing it over to the bullpen. UA went on to use four more pitchers, with the group allowing two runs – only one earned – over the final 6.0 frames to seal the victory on Tuesday.
• The Tide came up short in a 6-0 loss to Mississippi State on Friday evening at Dudy Noble Field. The Bulldogs built a lead early with four runs in the second. State added two more in the seventh to put things out of reach. Alabama loaded the bases with no outs in the top of the third but was unable to get on the board. The Crimson Tide had other opportunities throughout the night but could not battle back.
• Sam Finnerty suffered the loss despite another solid outing. The senior allowed four runs on nine hits while striking out four across his 6.0 innings and 86 pitches of work. He gave up a home run in the fourth, but steadied himself after that, retiring the next 12 in order until a pair of singles broke the streak in the sixth.
• Alabama suffered a 9-1 loss to State on Saturday afternoon. Two runs in the fourth with one in the fifth gave Mississippi State a 3-0 lead. The Crimson Tide was able to rally back for one in the seventh to cut the deficit to two, but a five-spot in the home half of the seventh and one more in the eighth gave the Bulldogs the series-clinching win on Saturday.
• For the second day in a row, the Tide received a solid outing from its starter, and, once again, Alabama's starter suffered the loss. Brock Love was on the losing end of Saturday's matchup, allowing three runs on three hits and three walks in 4.0-plus frames. The redshirt junior struck out four across his 79 pitches of work.
• Sunday saw the Tide fall to the Bulldogs, 13-3. Alabama was able to collect 11 hits compared to State's 17 but could not match the Bulldogs in runs. Seven of the nine starters recorded at least one knock with Reeves, Gentry and Hawk each contributing two hits apiece. Hawk added a solo home run, his third of the season, to go with an RBI and a run scored.

ABOUT UAB

• Brian Shoop is in his 13th season at UAB in 2019 and entered the new campaign with a career record of 328-356 with the Blazers and a 1,027-646-1 overall mark across his 29 years as a collegiate head coach. Shoop is joined by assistant coaches Perry Roth and Adam Revelette along with volunteer assistant coach, the legendary Ron Polk.
• UAB returns 22 letterwinners from the 2018 team that finished 21-33 overall and 13-17 in C-USA action to finish eighth overall. The 2019 roster is without seven lettermen from a season ago and welcomes 14 newcomers to this year's roster.
• The Blazers were selected to finish eighth overall in Conference USA in the league's preseason poll, as voted on by the conference's head coaches.

ALABAMA vs. THE STATE

• The Crimson Tide holds an impressive 9-1 mark against teams from the state of Alabama.
• So far this season, Alabama has squared off with Auburn (1-0), Jacksonville State (1-0), North Alabama (2-0), Samford (1-0), South Alabama (3-0), Troy (0-1) and UAB (1-0).
• In those 10 matchups, the Crimson Tide is outscoring the opposition 83-28 for an average of 8.3 runs per game compared to 2.8 runs for the opponents. The offense has seven starters who are batting above .300 against in-state foes with two players in the .400 range including Tyler Gentry (.485) and Keith Holcombe (.455).
• On the hill, the Tide maintains a 2.20 ERA (22 ER/90.0 IP) and has limited in-state opposition to a lowly .188 average. The Alabama arms have also struck out 108 compared to 33 walks in the 10 contests.
• The Tide still has a weekend series in Auburn. Alabama is also slated for single games with JSU, Samford, UAB and Troy to complete the home-and-home series'

ON DECK

Alabama returns home this weekend to host fifth-ranked Vanderbilt at Sewell-Thomas Stadium. The Crimson Tide and Commodores are set for a 6 p.m. first pitch on Friday night to open the series. The two teams will then meet for an 8 p.m. matchup on Saturday followed by a 1 p.m. start on Sunday afternoon. Games one and three of the series will air on SEC Network+ with game two being broadcast nationally on SEC Network.


-UA-



RTR,

Diamond Tide
:biga:
 

New Posts

Latest threads

TideFans.shop : 2024 Madness!

TideFans.shop - Get YOUR Bama Gear HERE!”></a>
<br />

<!--/ END TideFans.shop & item link \-->
<p style= Purchases made through our TideFans.shop and Amazon.com links may result in a commission being paid to TideFans.