Alabama baseball’s opening SEC series went about as bad as it possibly could have, as the team was swept by No. 21-ranked Kentucky in Lexington.
Game 1: Kentucky 7, Alabama 4
The Wildcats defeated the Crimson Tide 7-4 in the opening game of the SEC play on Friday night in Lexington.
The Crimson Tide struck first as the second batter of the ballgame, star shortstop Justin Lebron, crushed a no-doubt solo shot, his ninth home run of the year, to give Alabama a 1-0 advantage. The Wildcats quickly responded in the bottom of the first inning, when Ethan Hindle crushed a two-run homer to give them a 2-1 lead.
In the bottom half of the second, Ryan Schwartz demolished a two-run home run to extend the Wildcats’ lead to 4-1. In the third inning, it looked like Crimson Tide starting pitcher was going to strand a runner at third, but left fielder Justin Osterhouse botched a routine fly ball, allowing the runner to score on an E7, extending the Wildcats’ lead to 5-1.
The Wildcats extended their lead to 6-1 in the fourth inning via a solo home run from Owen Jenkins. In the fifth inning, an RBI groundout from Tyler Cerny made it a 7-1 ballgame. In the top half of the sixth inning, Crimson Tide designated hitter John Lemm crushed a three-run home run off the foul pole in right field, making it 7-4.
Crimson Tide starting pitcher Tyler Fay surrendered seven runs -six of them earned- allowed eight hits, and walked a batter, while striking out eight on 89 pitches. He raised his ERA to 5.34 on the season. Although it wasn’t Fays’ best performance, he was still able to grit out seven innings of work, keeping the Crimson Tide bullpen mostly rested for the rest of the series.
“Credit Tyler, he got better as he went,” head coach Rob Vaughn said. “The fact that we didn’t have to go get him early in the game is going to pay dividends for the rest of the weekend.”
South Carolina transfer Ashtown Crowther replaced Fay in the eighth inning and worked a scoreless frame. Crimson Tide center fielder Bryce Fowler roped a double into the right field corner in the top of the ninth inning, but was stranded as Lemm grounded out to end the game.
Game 2: Kentucky 8, Alabama 7
The Wildcats took down the Crimson Tide 8-7 to win the series.
The Crimson Tide got the scoring started early in the top of the first thanks to a sacrifice fly from Brady Neal, who was playing left field on Saturday. A couple of batters later, designated hitter Will Plattner was plunked with the bases loaded to bring across another run and give the Crimson Tide a 2-0 lead.
In the top of the second inning, Lebron flew out, but rolled his ankle at second base. Lebron stayed in the game for the bottom half of the inning before being replaced by Osterhouse on defense in the third inning.
In the top of the third, Lemm crushed a no-doubt solo home run, his second in as many days and third of the season, extending the Crimson Tide’s lead to 3-0. In the bottom half of the inning, Owen Jenkins singled to center field, and an error from Crimson Tide center fielder Fowler allowed the Wildcats to get on the board, making it a 3-1 ballgame.
Plattner led off the fourth inning with a double, then was able to come around to score thanks to a wild pitch and a throwing error to extend the Crimson Tides’ lead to 4-1. The Wildcats responded with four runs in the bottom of the fifth inning via an RBI double from Jayce Tharnish, followed by a two-run bloop single by Luke Lawrence to even the game at 4-4 and end Zane Adams day.
Lefty Evan Steckmesser replaced Adams on the mound and surrendered a perfect safety squeeze to Hudson Brown, which gave the Wildcats a 5-4 lead. Steckmesser remained in for the sixth inning and retired the Wildcats in order.
Adams looked sharp through his first four innings of work, but ran out of gas in the fifth, allowing four runs. Adams tossed four-plus innings, allowing six hits, five runs, four of them earned, walking two, and striking out four on 81 pitches, raising his ERA to 4.38.
Steckmesser came back out for the seventh inning and walked the leadoff batter and allowed a single. Matthew Heiberger took over and gave up a mammoth three-run home run to Brown, extending the Wildcats’ lead to 8-4.
Righty Bobby Alcock replaced Heiberger and picked up the final two outs of the seventh to limit the damage. Alcock came back out for the bottom of the eighth and worked a scoreless frame.
In the top of the ninth, the Crimson Tide made things interesting as first baseman Luke Vaughn picked up an RBI single, a couple of batters later, second baseman Brennan Holt cut the deficit to one run via a two-run single, making it 8-7. However, Fowler struck out to end the ballgame and strand the tying run at second base, giving the Wildcats the series win.
The Crimson Tide committed three crucial errors, which ultimately proved the difference in game two.
“We didn’t deserve to win,” Vaughn said. “That was about as sloppy a defensive game I’ve been a part of.”
Game 3: Kentucky 6, Alabama 4
Lebron was back in the lineup for the Crimson Tide after an injury scare Saturday, but that was one of the few positives this weekend as the Wildcats won 6-4 to complete the sweep.
“We played bad this week,” Vaughn said. “We didn’t play good enough. We deserved what we got this weekend.”
In the bottom of the second inning, Brown crushed a solo home run to give the Wildcats a 1-0 lead. The Wildcats tacked on two more runs in the third inning thanks to a two-run single making it 3-0 from Tyler Bell, who missed the first two games of the series with a shoulder injury.
Heiberger replaced Crimson Tide starting pitcher Myles Upchurch with two outs and two runners on in the fourth inning. Heiberger walked a batter, then picked up a strikeout to strand the bases loaded.
The Wildcats made it a 5-0 ballgame in the bottom of the fifth thanks to RBI singles from Brown and Schwartz. Hagan Banks took over Heiberger in the sixth inning with two away and two aboard and recorded a strikeout to strand two runners in scoring position.
Third baseman Jason Torres led off the seventh inning with a double, the first hit of the game for the Crimson Tide. A couple of batters later, Plattner laced an RBI double down the third base line, cutting the Wildcats’ lead to 5-1.
The Crimson Tide then put together a little two-out rally thanks to a two-run single from Fowler, followed by an RBI single by Lebron, cutting the Wildcats’ lead to 5-4. Banks remained in the game for the bottom of the seventh and retired the Wildcats to put together a shutdown inning.
Banks came back out for the eighth and surrendered back-to-back doubles, including an RBI double to Lawrence, extending the Wildcats’ lead to 6-4, which ended up being the nail in the coffin.
The Crimson Tide had the heart of the order up for the ninth in Lebron, Neal and Torres, but they went down in order.
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