Regular Season Finale for Alabama Sends Tide to Auburn

[Diamond Tide]

The Crimson Tide and Tigers will meet for the 309th time in series history on Thursday

5/15/2024

TUSCALOOSA, AL – Alabama baseball's 2024 regular season slate wraps up in Auburn as the 24th-ranked Crimson Tide and Tigers square off from Thursday through Saturday. The first two games of the series are scheduled for 6 p.m. CT with the finale on Saturday slated for 5 p.m. Thursday and Friday will air on SEC Network+ while Saturday's contest is set to be broadcast nationally on SEC Network.

Follow the Tide
Fans can follow the series via the below outlets:
Watch: SEC Network+ (Thursday | Friday) / SEC Network (Saturday)
Listen: 100.9 FM / CTSN / The Varsity App
Twitter: @AlabamaBSB
Live Stats: AuburnTigers.com

Probable Starting Pitching Matchups
THURSDAY: UA – Greg Farone (Sr., LHP) vs. AU – Tanner Bauman (Sr., LHP)
FRIDAY: UA – Zane Adams (Fr., LHP) vs. AU – Chase Allsup (Jr., RHP)
SATURDAY: UA – Ben Hess (Jr., RHP) vs. AU – TBA

Leading Off

• Alabama and Auburn will meet for the 309th time in history when the two teams square off for the opener on Thursday night at Plainsman Park. The Crimson Tide holds the all-time series advantage, 168-140, with Auburn owning a slight 63-56 lead at their home park.
• The in-state rivals squared off four times in 2023. The initial pairing came during a weekend series at The Joe from April 14-16. Auburn began with an 8-4 win on Friday night, before UA responded with 4-2 and 6-1 wins on Saturday and Sunday to claim the series. The final matchup came at the Hoover Met in an elimination game at the SEC Baseball Tournament. Alabama outlasted Auburn, 7-4, to advance to the quarterfinal round of the event.
• The Crimson Tide and Tigers last met at Plainsman Park from May 13-14, 2022. AU defeated the Tide 3-2 and 6-4 to open the series. Game three was canceled during the fifth inning due to the threat of inclement weather.

About Alabama

• Alabama enters the final week of the 2024 regular season having won four of its last five games, including a 3-1 stretch last week. The most recent stretch began with a midweek win at Troy last Tuesday before a 2-1 series win over LSU across the weekend in Tuscaloosa.
• The Tide outlasted 21st-ranked Troy, 7-6, last Tuesday evening at Riddle-Pace Field. With the midweek victory, UA finished at 20-4 in non-conference play during the regular season.
• Alabama built a 3-0 lead after three innings and added two more in the fourth, highlighted by a solo home run from William Hamiter. Troy was able to get on the board with one in the bottom of the fourth before adding four in the fifth to tie things up at 5-5 through five.
• Hamiter helped UA regain the lead with a solo homer to start the sixth, a run that would prove key as both teams were able to cross one apiece in the eighth for the 7-6 final.
• The Tide's offense was led by Hamiter, who finished 2-for-3 with the two solo shots, two RBI, three runs and two walks. Will Hodomatched him in RBI with two as part of a 1-for-3 night that included a run, one walk and a hit-by-pitch.
• Braylon Myers notched his second save of the season with a scoreless ninth that included one punchout at Troy.
• Alabama used a ninth-inning rally to earn an 8-7 walkoff win over LSU on Friday evening at Sewell-Thomas Stadium.
• The Tigers and Tide traded runs through the first four frames with LSU plating one in the first followed by one for Alabama in the second. Both teams then plated two apiece in the fourth to make it a 3-3 affair.
• LSU added two apiece in the fifth and eighth to gain a four-run lead, but in the Tide eighth, a two-run homer from TJ McCants cut the lead in half before an RBI-single from Gage Miller made it a one-run game entering the ninth.
• In the ninth, Alabama loaded the bases with two down. With the bases juiced, Hamiter sent a swinging bunt towards the LSU mound, but an errant throw by the Tiger catcher went into right field and allowed two to come across for the 8-7 walkoff victory.
• McCants paced the Tide offense with a 2-for-3 night that included a team-high three RBI and three runs scored along with a walk and his homer. Hamiter also contributed a two-hit effort, finishing 2-for-5 with a triple and a pair of RBI.
• The Crimson Tide suffered a 6-3 loss to LSU on Saturday, with a three-run seventh by the Tigers proving the difference.
• Alabama struck for one in the first, but LSU answered with a two-run second. The Tide evened things up with a single tally in the fourth, but the Tigers countered once again, crossing one in the sixth before widening the gap with three more in the seventh. Alabama got one run back in the seventh but would get no closer for the 6-3 final.
• Zane Adams suffered the hard-luck loss on Saturday, tossing 5.1 innings and allowing three runs on six hits and four walks with a career-high six strikeouts.
• Alabama relied heavily on its pitching staff on Sunday, holding off LSU for the 4-3 series-clinching win.
• The Tide jumped out to a 4-0 lead after three innings, plating three in the second and one in the third. The Tigers got on the board with a run in the fourth and rallied for two in the eighth but would get no closer for the 4-3 final.
• LSU's late offense was stalled by the relief duo of Tyler Fay and Myers. The pair combined for the final 2.0 scoreless frames with Myers picking up his third save of the season and second of the week.
• Ben Hess earned the win on Sunday, allowing just one run on only three hits and three walks while striking out a career-high tying 10 across his career-best 6.2 innings of work.

About Auburn

• Butch Thompson is in his ninth season at Auburn in 2024 and entered the new year with a 256-187-1 record with the Tigers, part of a 295-208-1 career mark. A 1992 graduate of Birmingham-Southern, Thompson is joined on staff by associate head coaches Gabe Gross and Karl Nonemaker along with assistant coach Everett Teaford.
• Auburn finished the 2023 season at 34-23-1 overall and 17-13 in SEC play. The Tigers hosted an NCAA Regional but dropped their first two games to Penn and Southern Miss to bring the 2023 campaign to a close.
• The Tigers were selected to finish fifth in the West and ninth overall in the SEC in the league's preseason poll, as voted on by the conference's head coaches.

On Deck
Alabama will take part in the 2024 SEC Tournament on Tuesday, May 21. The Crimson Tide's opponent and first pitch time are still to be determined.


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RTR,

Diamond Tide