After an Opening Day loss, Alabama baseball bounced back to sweep Saturday’s doubleheader and secure the series over Washington State.
Game 1: Washington State 8, Alabama 4
Alabama was completely outplayed on opening day, losing by a final score of 8-4.
The Cougars came out hot, scoring two runs right away in the first inning. Alabama got one back in the second thanks to an RBI double from Peyton Steele.
However, the Cougars kept pouring it on, scoring a total of five runs between the third and fifth innings, including a two-run homer from Ryan Skjonsby to make it 7-1. Alabama got another back, with Jason Torres forcing a walk with the bases loaded. Yet the Cougars got it right back in the seventh, with Max Hartman scoring from a fielder’s choice.
Alabama attempted a comeback late in the ninth inning, with Justin Lebron hitting a two-run homer to make it 8-4. However, it was too little too late, and the Cougars held on to get their first win of the season.
“I said it from the jump, but we were going to learn a lot about this team after its first loss,” head coach Rob Vaughn said. “You didn’t want it to be on night one… but we just didn’t get it done tonight, credit to Washington State.”
Tyler Fay struggled from the mound in his opening day debut. Fay finished with 3.2 innings pitched, giving up five hits and five earned runs with a career high seven strikeouts. The Crimson Tide turned to the bullpen three times for the rest of the game, with the other two runs being allowed by JT Blackwood and Austin Morris.
Game 2: Alabama 8, Washington State 1
The Crimson Tide was forced to play a doubleheader Saturday due to forecasted rain on Sunday, and the team responded to a disappointing Opening Day loss with a dominant 8-1 win over the Cougars.
The Crimson Tide got the scoring started in the bottom half of the fourth inning, when Torres worked a lead-off walk, and a couple of batters later, Luke Vaughn launched a two-run home run for his first collegiate hit to put the Crimson Tide in front 2-0.
Alabama starting pitcher Zane Adams had it all working Saturday, throwing five shutout innings, only allowing three hits and striking out nine batters on 79 pitches. Adams’ velocity was noticeably up early on, sitting 93 to 95 mph and topping out at 96.
“My Velocity has been up recently; it was up in the fall, it was up at the beginning of the spring,” Adams said.
In the bottom half of the fifth inning, the Crimson Tide tacked on three more runs thanks to a two-run single from Torres and a sacrifice fly from Southern Illinois transfer John Lemm, making it a 5-0 ballgame.
Matthew Heiberger took over for Adams on the mound in the top of the sixth inning and surrendered an RBI single to Jonah Shull, getting the Cougars on the board. Heiberger settled in after that, pitching three innings with three strikeouts.
Purdue Fort Wayne transfer Justin Osterhouse added an insurance run for the Crimson Tide in the bottom of the sixth inning via a sacrifice fly. Center fielder Bryce Fowler had to leave the game in the sixth inning after hurting himself on an awkward slide into second base.
The Crimson Tide plated two more runs in the bottom of the eighth inning thanks to an RBI single from Brady Neal, and Brennan Holt came around to score on a throwing error from the Cougars catcher, making it an 8-1 ballgame.
Samford transfer left-handed pitcher Evan Steckmesser took over for Heiberger in the top of the ninth and picked up the final three outs of the ballgame.
Game 3: Alabama 11, Washington State 1 (F/7)
The Crimson Tide took down the Cougars 11-1 in a run-rule victory to win the series and sweep the Saturday doubleheader.
Freshman right-handed pitcher Myles Upchurch made his highly anticipated collegiate debut and did not disappoint, allowing only two hits and striking out nine batters across four shutout innings.
“Good fastball, a good changeup, a really good curveball,” Adams said on Upchurch’s debut. “I knew he was gonna have a good outing today. I told him in the locker room before, I was like, ‘If you just go no strikes, you’ll be good,’ and that’s what he did.”
Lemm scored the game’s first run in the bottom of the first inning with an RBI single right back up the middle. Holt launched a solo home run in the bottom of the third inning to make it a 2-0 game. A few batters later, freshman first baseman Andrew Purdy delivered a two-run single, his first collegiate hit and RBIs, to make it a 4-0 ballgame.
Another run came across to score on an RBI groundout from Torres to cap off a five-run third inning and make it a 6-0 game. The Crimson Tide added four more runs in the fourth inning thanks to a bases-loaded walk from Purdy, a two-run single from Neal, and an RBI double from Steele, making it 10-0.
Lebron made it an 11-0 game in the fifth inning thanks to his second home run of the season. An RBI single from third baseman Kyler Northrop got the Cougars on the scoreboard in the sixth inning, making it an 11-1 game.
After a masterful start from Upchurch, the Crimson Tide turned to the bullpen as Tate Robertson pitched a scoreless inning with a couple of strikeouts, and Ashton Crowther pitched one inning and allowed one run. Two freshmen, Luke Smyers and Joe Chiarodo, saw their first action at the college level and combined to record the final three outs in the seventh inning to give Alabama the win.
The Crimson Tide will head to Birmingham on Tuesday for its first mid-week matchup against Samford, with first pitch scheduled for 4 p.m. CT.
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