The Tide had opportunities to tie it late but came up short in Saturday’s contest
3/7/2020
TUSCALOOSA, AL – Alabama baseball suffered its first loss of the season, 3-2, at the hands of Lipscomb on Saturday afternoon at Sewell-Thomas Stadium. The loss snaps the Crimson Tide's streak of 14 straight wins to start the season – the second-longest winning streak to begin a year in program history – and puts UA at 14-1 overall.
The Bisons scored one in the first but were matched by UA in the home half of the third. Lipscomb then added single tallies in the fourth and fifth innings with Alabama returning the favor with one in the sixth. The Crimson Tide got runners aboard in the seventh and eighth innings but was unable to complete the comeback.
Lipscomb starter Max Habegger (2-0) got the win with 5.1 innings of two-run baseball. Alabama starter Connor Shamblin (1-1) suffered the loss despite a solid start. The sophomore allowed three runs on six hits and four walks with six strikeouts across 5.0 innings. William Freeman followed out of the bullpen and put forth an impressive effort that kept UA in the game. The senior gave up just two hits and did not walk a batter while striking out a career-high seven in his 4.0 innings of work.
From Assistant Coach Jason Jackson
"We started off the year 14-0. I told the guys in the dugout postgame, "If I told you we were going to be 14-1 back in February, would you have taken it?" Heck yeah, we would've taken it. I hope (the players) show up tomorrow ready to win a series because that is the ultimate goal – to come out and win a series. We'll start new. We have a new streak to start tomorrow."
How It Happened
The two teams return to the diamond tomorrow morning for an 11 a.m. CT first pitch to decide the series. Alabama will call on freshman lefty Antoine Jean for the start while Lipscomb counters with right-hander Dylan Bierman, a junior. The weekend finale will be seen by a national audience with the game airing live on SEC Network.
Get all the latest information on the team by following @AlabmaBSB 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
3/7/2020
TUSCALOOSA, AL – Alabama baseball suffered its first loss of the season, 3-2, at the hands of Lipscomb on Saturday afternoon at Sewell-Thomas Stadium. The loss snaps the Crimson Tide's streak of 14 straight wins to start the season – the second-longest winning streak to begin a year in program history – and puts UA at 14-1 overall.
The Bisons scored one in the first but were matched by UA in the home half of the third. Lipscomb then added single tallies in the fourth and fifth innings with Alabama returning the favor with one in the sixth. The Crimson Tide got runners aboard in the seventh and eighth innings but was unable to complete the comeback.
Lipscomb starter Max Habegger (2-0) got the win with 5.1 innings of two-run baseball. Alabama starter Connor Shamblin (1-1) suffered the loss despite a solid start. The sophomore allowed three runs on six hits and four walks with six strikeouts across 5.0 innings. William Freeman followed out of the bullpen and put forth an impressive effort that kept UA in the game. The senior gave up just two hits and did not walk a batter while striking out a career-high seven in his 4.0 innings of work.
From Assistant Coach Jason Jackson
"We started off the year 14-0. I told the guys in the dugout postgame, "If I told you we were going to be 14-1 back in February, would you have taken it?" Heck yeah, we would've taken it. I hope (the players) show up tomorrow ready to win a series because that is the ultimate goal – to come out and win a series. We'll start new. We have a new streak to start tomorrow."
How It Happened
- T1 | The Bisons began the game with a walk. A one-out single and a fielder's choice moved the leadoff man to third with an RBI-single to follow, getting LU on the board. (1-0, Lipscomb)
- B3 | Freshman Jim Jarvis was hit by a pitch with one down to give the Tide a baserunner. A groundout in the next at-bat put him in scoring position before an RBI-double down the right field line from junior Tyler Gentry evened the score at one apiece. (1-1)
- T4 | A single and double started the inning before a one-out sacrifice fly to left put the Bisons back in front again. (2-1, Lipscomb)
- T5 | Lipscomb started things off with a walk before the leadoff man stole second. One out later, an RBI-single through the right side widened the gap. (3-1, Lipscomb)
- B6 | The Tide cut the deficit to one with a bases-loaded, two-out walk from Jarvis. (3-2, Lipscomb)
- Alabama went 14-0 to begin the 2020 campaign which is the best start under head coach Brad Bohannon, surpassing the 2018 squad's 9-0 start to the year. The 14-0 mark is also the second-best start to a season in program history. The Alabama all-time mark for wins to begin a season is 15 which was accomplished by the 1997 squad.
- The 14-game winning streak is the longest under Bohannon. The 14-game stretch is the standalone fifth-longest winning streak at any point in a season in program history.
- William Freeman struck out a career-high seven batters in today's relief effort. His previous high mark for punchouts was five in his start against Alabama State on Feb. 19 of this season.
- Following today's 1-for-5 game, Brett Auerbach has recorded a hit in six straight games. During that stretch, Auerbach is batting .400 (12-30) with two doubles, a home run, four RBI, seven runs scored, four walks and two stolen bases.
- Sam Praytor's hitting streak came to an end at eight games. Across the streak, Praytor batted .414 (12-29) with a double, three home runs, eight RBI, eight runs scored, four walks and five hit-by-pitch.
- T.J. Reeves' hitting streak ended at five games. Across that stretch, Reeves batted .364 (8-22) with a double, a home run, three RBI, five runs, two walks, three hit-by-pitch and a stolen base.
- Reeves' streak of reaching base safely ended at 25 games. The stretch began last season on May 4 and extended into today's game.
- ATTENDANCE : 3,229
The two teams return to the diamond tomorrow morning for an 11 a.m. CT first pitch to decide the series. Alabama will call on freshman lefty Antoine Jean for the start while Lipscomb counters with right-hander Dylan Bierman, a junior. The weekend finale will be seen by a national audience with the game airing live on SEC Network.
Get all the latest information on the team by following @AlabmaBSB 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
