The Tide closed out the year with a road victory at Plainsman Park
5/19/2024
AUBURN, AL – Alabama baseball earned a 12-5 win over Auburn on Saturday night at Plainsman Park. With the victory, the 24th-ranked Crimson Tide finished the regular season at 33-21 overall and 13-17 in Southeastern Conference action.
The series finale began at 5 p.m. CT and lasted just over six hours due to a 2:36 weather delay that began in the top of the ninth. Despite the wait, the Crimson Tide was able to finish off the Tigers and earn the No. 7 seed in the 2024 SEC Tournament.
Both teams got on the board with single tallies in the first before the Tigers built a 4-1 advantage after four innings of play with one run in the second and two in the fourth. Alabama tied it up with a three-run fourth and regained the lead with a four-spot in the sixth. Auburn countered for one in the seventh but would get no closer as the Tide widened the gap with four runs in the ninth prior to the delay, highlighted by a three-run homer from Ian Petrutz.
All nine starters recorded at least one hit on Saturday, led by Gage Miller's 4-for-6 showing that included a double, five RBI and three runs scored. Will Hodo matched Miller with three runs, part of his 2-for-4 effort with a walk, while Petrutz finished 1-for-1 with the homer, three RBI, two runs, three walks and a hit-by-pitch.
Ben Hess (5-4) earned the win with another solid start. The junior allowed five runs (three earned) on 10 hits with no walks and nine strikeouts across a career-high tying 6.2 innings of work. He was followed by the tandem of Alton Davis II and Braylon Myers, who tossed 2.1 scoreless frames with one hit and two strikeouts.
From Head Coach Rob Vaughn
"Obviously not the weekend we wanted to have, but I'm proud of the resiliency our guys showed today. We didn't play great early, but our offense settled in behind Ben Hess and we got the win. Now our attention shifts to Hoover and postseason baseball. We don't take it for granted having the opportunity to play beyond the regular season. We will rest up tomorrow and be ready to go against the Gamecocks on Tuesday. I'm looking forward to seeing our fans come support the guys and turn the stands into a sea of crimson."
How It Happened
Get all the latest information on the team by following @AlabmaBSB on X/Twitter and Instagram and on Facebook at Alabama Baseball. General athletic news can be found at UA_Athletics on X/Twitter and Instagram and AlabamaAthletics on Facebook.
-UA-
RTR,
Diamond Tide
5/19/2024
AUBURN, AL – Alabama baseball earned a 12-5 win over Auburn on Saturday night at Plainsman Park. With the victory, the 24th-ranked Crimson Tide finished the regular season at 33-21 overall and 13-17 in Southeastern Conference action.
The series finale began at 5 p.m. CT and lasted just over six hours due to a 2:36 weather delay that began in the top of the ninth. Despite the wait, the Crimson Tide was able to finish off the Tigers and earn the No. 7 seed in the 2024 SEC Tournament.
Both teams got on the board with single tallies in the first before the Tigers built a 4-1 advantage after four innings of play with one run in the second and two in the fourth. Alabama tied it up with a three-run fourth and regained the lead with a four-spot in the sixth. Auburn countered for one in the seventh but would get no closer as the Tide widened the gap with four runs in the ninth prior to the delay, highlighted by a three-run homer from Ian Petrutz.
All nine starters recorded at least one hit on Saturday, led by Gage Miller's 4-for-6 showing that included a double, five RBI and three runs scored. Will Hodo matched Miller with three runs, part of his 2-for-4 effort with a walk, while Petrutz finished 1-for-1 with the homer, three RBI, two runs, three walks and a hit-by-pitch.
Ben Hess (5-4) earned the win with another solid start. The junior allowed five runs (three earned) on 10 hits with no walks and nine strikeouts across a career-high tying 6.2 innings of work. He was followed by the tandem of Alton Davis II and Braylon Myers, who tossed 2.1 scoreless frames with one hit and two strikeouts.
From Head Coach Rob Vaughn
"Obviously not the weekend we wanted to have, but I'm proud of the resiliency our guys showed today. We didn't play great early, but our offense settled in behind Ben Hess and we got the win. Now our attention shifts to Hoover and postseason baseball. We don't take it for granted having the opportunity to play beyond the regular season. We will rest up tomorrow and be ready to go against the Gamecocks on Tuesday. I'm looking forward to seeing our fans come support the guys and turn the stands into a sea of crimson."
How It Happened
- T1 | Ian Petrutz drew a one-out walk and moved to third on a single in the next at-bat. One batter later, Kade Snell brought Petrutz in with an RBI-single. (1-0, Alabama)
- B1 | An error allowed the leadoff man to reach for the Tigers. A stolen base and a single then brought a run across. (1-1)
- B2 | The Tigers began the frame with a double before a fielder's choice moved the man to third. A 6-3 groundout followed, scoring the go-ahead run. (2-1, Auburn)
- B4 | Mason Maners widened the gap with a two-run homer. (4-1, Auburn)
- T5 | Will Hodo led off with a walk before a single by Max Grant put runners on the corners for Gage Miller. The Tide third baseman capitalized on the opportunity, singling up the middle to cross one. Both runners moved into scoring position on a sacrifice bunt before a two-out RBI-single from William Hamiter tied things up. (4-4)
- T6 | Three straight singles started the Tide sixth to force an AU pitching change. The new arm immediately gave up a bases-clearing double to Miller. A hit-by-pitch followed by a two-out intentional walk then loaded them up for Mac Guscette, who was hit by a pitch to push another run across. (8-4, Alabama)
- B7 | A two-out single with a man at third scored one for the Tigers. (8-5, Alabama)
- T9 | Hodo started with a single and moved to third on an error in the next at-bat that also allowed Bryce Eblin to reach at first. A single from Miller scored Hodo before Petrutz cleared the bases with a three-run homer to right. (12-5, Alabama)
- Tonight's game was delayed by 2:36 due to a weather delay.
- Ben Hess tossed a career-high 108 pitches in his start. His previous best was 104 in last weekend's start against LSU on May 12.
- Hess matched his career-long outing with 6.2 frames on Saturday. He also tossed 6.2 innings against the Tigers last weekend.
- The Tide finished with 12 runs and has posted double-digit runs in 20 games on the year.
- All nine starters recorded at least one hit on the evening.
- Alabama recorded double-digit hits for the 34th time this season, including 17 SEC contests.
- William Hamiter extended his hitting streak to nine games. Over that stretch, the graduate is hitting .444 (16-36) with three doubles, a triple, two homers, 15 RBI, five runs scored, six walks and one hit-by-pitch.
- Justin Lebron moved his on-base streak to 18 games.
- Gage Miller finished with a season-high tying four hits. He also had four knocks in game two of the doubleheader with Lipscomb on March 9.
- Miller also recorded a season-high tying five RBI to match his effort against Valparaiso on Feb. 23.
Get all the latest information on the team by following @AlabmaBSB on X/Twitter and Instagram and on Facebook at Alabama Baseball. General athletic news can be found at UA_Athletics on X/Twitter and Instagram and AlabamaAthletics on Facebook.
-UA-
RTR,
Diamond Tide
