Alabama baseball swept Vanderbilt this weekend for the first time since 2009 to keep its hopes of hosting a regional alive.
Game 1: Alabama 5, Vanderbilt 4
The Crimson Tide took down the Commodores 5-4 in walk-off fashion.
The Commodores struck first in the top of the third with a two-run homer to right off the bat of first baseman Tommy Goodin to make it a 2-0 ballgame.
Crimson Tide first baseman Luke Vaughn led off the bottom of the inning with a triple to right-center. Right fielder Peyton Steele drove in Vaughn with an RBI groundout to cut the deficit in half.
In the top of the fourth, the Commodores got that run right back thanks to a solo shot from designated hitter Colin Barczi to make it 3-1.
The Commodores tacked on another run to make it 4-1 in the top of the sixth via a solo home run to right center from center fielder Rustan Rigdon.
In the bottom of the sixth, Tuscaloosa native left fielder Eric Hines crushed a three-run bomb into the Commodores’ bullpen, his fifth homer of the year, to knot things up at 4-4.
Left-hander Matthew Heiberger replaced Crimson Tide starter Tyler Fay on the mound with one out in the top of the seventh and picked up the final couple of outs to keep it a tie ballgame. Fay tossed 6.1 innings, surrendering eight hits, four runs, walking one and striking out seven on 96 pitches.
Heiberger came back out for the eighth inning and faced the minimum, thanks to an inning-ending 6-3 double play, then worked a scoreless ninth inning.
In the bottom of the ninth, designated hitter John Lemm called game, crushing a solo bomb to dead center field to walk it off.
“I was just sitting heater the whole time,” Lemm said. “Coach Vaughn and Coach Papio told me to get off the plate and hit that thing over the freaking bleachers. I just saw a heater, and I’m like, yeah, ‘I ain’t missing this.’”
Game 2: Alabama 5, Vanderbilt 0
The Crimson Tide shut out the Commodores 5-0 to clinch the series.
With two outs in the bottom of the first, the Crimson Tide kicked off the scoring. Center fielder Bryce Fowler poked a single through the vacated left side of the infield. Then the heroes from game 1 stepped up as Hines crushed a two-run homer into the Commodores’ bullpen, his sixth of the year to give the Crimson Tide a 2-0 advantage. Lemm followed with an absolute moonshot into the right field ragers to make it back-to-back bombs and a 3-0 game.
The Crimson Tide tacked on a couple more runs in the bottom of the third inning. Hines lined an RBI single to left, and third baseman Jason Torres worked a four pitch walk with the bases loaded to make it 5-0.
Left-hander Ashton Crowther replaced fellow left-hander and Crimson Tide starting pitcher Zane Adams on the mound to start the seventh inning and worked a scoreless frame. Adams tossed six shutout innings, working around traffic on the base paths all game long as he surrendered eight hits, walked a batter and struck out six on 99 pitches.
“Maybe I was going for the punchout a little bit more,” Adams said. “I was trying to keep my pitch count low, but their ground balls just found a hole today. But yeah, I mean, a little more chase pitches whenever I had runners on.”
Crowther remained in the ballgame for the eighth and ninth and worked scoreless innings to complete a nine-out save and give the Crimson Tide its first series win in almost a month.
“If you beat Ash, you’re either going to have to kick it around behind him or you’re gonna have to line up and hit him,” Vaughn said of Crowther. “Man, he just was outstanding in that situation right there.”
Game 3: Alabama 8, Vanderbilt 5
The Crimson Tide jumped out to an early 5-0 lead in the first inning, thanks to an RBI double in the left-center gap from Fowler. Followed by an RBI fielder’s choice from Hines. Then Torres launched a three-run home run of the scoreboard in left field, his sixth of the year.
The Commodores responded in the top half of the second with three runs thanks to a three-run shot off the bat of Barczi to make it 5-3. In the third inning, the Commodores cut the Crimson Tide’s lead to one run with an RBI base knock from left fielder Braden Holcomb.
In the bottom of the fourth, the Crimson Tide made it a 7-4 ballgame thanks to an RBI double from second baseman Brennan Holt and an RBI groundout from shortstop Justin Lebron.
With one out in the top of the sixth, Heiberger came in relief of Crimson Tide starting pitcher Myles Upchurch and picked up the final two outs thanks to a beautiful 4-6-3 double play started by Holt.
Upchurch tossed 5.1 innings, allowing four hits, four runs, walking three and striking out three on a career high 107 pitches.
Heiberger remained in for the seventh and allowed a run on a sacrifice fly to shortstop Ryker Waite to cut the Crimson Tide’s lead to 7-5. Heiberger came back out for the eighth and worked a scoreless frame.
Holt crushed a no doubt solo shot deep to right field to add a big insurance run for the Crimson Tide, making it 8-5. Holt had an absolutely electric bat flip, which Commodores longtime head coach Tim Corbin did not seem to be a big fan of.
Crimson Tide closer Hagan Banks got the call for the ninth inning and worked a scoreless frame to pick up the save and secure the sweep.
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