Alabama used timely hitting and a strong night from its pitching staff to defeat Troy 7-3 on Tuesday night, closing out non-conference play with a win before opening SEC action this weekend.
“Good win,” head coach Rob Vaughn said. “You know, obviously didn’t just go wear it out offensively there, but we were really timely with our hitting.”
The Crimson Tide struck first in the bottom half of the first inning, center fielder Bryce Fowler and shortstop Justin Lebron were hit by pitches. Fowler and Lebron executed a perfect double steal to put two runners in scoring position for first baseman Luke Vaughn. Vaughn drove in Fowler via a sacrifice fly to give the Crimson Tide a 1-0 advantage.
Crimson Tide starting pitcher Bobby Alcock faced the minimum through two innings thanks to catcher John Lemm gunning down Josh Pyne trying to steal second base to erase a one-out walk. In the top of the second, Alcock surrendered a leadoff single before inducing a 4-6-3 double play, then recorded his third strikeout of the ballgame to end the frame.
Third baseman Jason Torres led off the bottom half of the inning with a solo bomb off the scoreboard in left field on a hanging breaking ball to extend the Crimson Tide’s lead to 2-0. The Crimson Tide then worked three straight walks to load the bases. Lebron extended the Crimson Tide’s lead to 4-0 via a two-run single.
The Trojans got on the board in the third inning thanks to an RBI single by Pyne, and a second run tried to come home, but left fielder Justin Osterhouse and Lebron teamed up to execute a perfect relay and cut down the runner.
Evan Steckmesser replaced Alcock on the mound to start the fourth inning and worked around an E3 and a hit batsman, putting together a scoreless frame, followed by a 1-2-3 fifth inning. Alcock tossed three innings, allowing one run, surrendering four hits, walking a batter and striking out four on 48 pitches.
“Bobby gave us a great start, just really good stuff out of the gate there,” Vaughn said. “I thought all the guys threw the ball well.”
The Crimson Tide tacked on another run in the bottom half of the fifth inning, thanks to a sacrifice fly from Torres, making it a 5-1 ballgame.
Sam Mitchell came in relief for Steckmesser in the top of the sixth inning and served up a mammoth two-run home run to Jimmy Janicki, cutting the Crimson Tide’s lead to 5-3. Mitchell came back out for the seventh and picked up an out as well as walked a batter before Matthew Heiberger took over.
Heiberger went from ahead in the count 0-2 to walking the first batter he faced, but then settled down, recording a pair of puntchouts stranding the tying run at the plate. Lemm extended the Crimson Tide’s lead in the bottom of the seventh thanks to an RBI double that just stayed fair down the first base line, making it 7-3.
Heiberger remained in for the eighth and worked around a walk with some help from a 4-6-3 inning-ending double play. The Crimson Tide turned to Hagan Banks for the ninth inning, and he worked a scoreless frame to put the finishing touches on a 7-3 victory.
“This group can take a punch,” said Vaughn on what he has learned about his team in non-conference play. “This is kind of as banged up on the unit as I’ve had in maybe all my years as a head coach.”
The Crimson Tide will be back in action on Friday at 5:30 p.m. CT in Lexington against No. 21-ranked Kentucky and can be streamed on SEC+.
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