Alabama shut out St. John’s 8-0 in the first game of the Tuscaloosa Super Regional in front of a record-setting 7,573 fans in attendance.
“What a cool environment tonight,” head coach Rob Vaughn said. “I mean, I told our guys before the game in left field, when we were meeting before the games started. I said, ‘Take a second and look around and see what you built.’ 7,500 people rocking and in it and fighting and scratching and clawing.”
Crimson Tide starting pitcher Tyler Fay struck out the side in order in the top half of the first inning.
Shortstop Justin Lebron lined a one-out base hit to left field in the bottom half of the inning. However, catcher Brady Neal struck out and third baseman Jason Torres grounded out to strand Lebron at first base.
In the bottom of the second inning, designated hitter John Lemm and left fielder Eric Hines picked up back-to-back singles. The second baseman Brennan Holt drove them both in with a two-run double into the right field corner, giving the Crimson Tide a 2-0 advantage.
The Crimson Tide tacked on four more runs in the bottom of the fourth inning. Right fielder Peyton Steele worked a walk with the bases loaded to bring across a run, center fielder Bryce Fowler followed with a two-run double down the first base line, and Neal worked a bases-loaded walk, making it 6-0.
Fay navigated around a leadoff walk in the top of the fifth to work a shutdown inning, then followed that up with a 1-2-3 sixth inning and picked up his seventh strikeout of the ballgame. Fay loaded the bases with nobody out in the seventh inning, but picked up a couple of popouts and his eighth strikeout to work into and out of trouble.
Fay struck out the first batter of the eighth inning to end his night. He left the mound to a standing ovation and 7,573 fans chanting his name in what will be his final start at The Joe in his collegiate career. Left-hander Ashton Crowther took over and picked up the final two outs of the inning.
“That was really special,” Fay said of the ovation and what The Joe has meant to him. “Obviously, I mean, I’ve been here for four years, redshirted my freshman year. And as I walk on to where I am now, it just meant the world to me… coming off the mound with everyone chanting my name was pretty sweet.”
Fay tossed 7.1 shutout innings, allowing just two hits, walking three and striking out nine batters on 113 pitches.
In the bottom of the eighth inning, Lebron laced a two-run double into the right-center gap to extend the Crimson Tide’s lead to 8-0.
Crowther came back out for the ninth inning, worked around a walk to put together a scoreless frame, and put the finishing touches on a dominant Crimson Tide win, putting them one win away from going to the College World Series for the first time since 1999.
Vaughn was one win away from Omaha as an assistant coach at Maryland in 2014, but couldn’t get the job done. He was asked what it would take to get the job done this time around.
“To me, it’s a big piece of that is just being present and understanding tomorrow is it,” Vaughn said. “We can’t start thinking about punching our ticket. We can start thinking about what it would mean, and that’s all something we can dwell on after we get there.”
The Crimson Tide will look to finish the job Sunday and punch its ticket to Omaha with Zane Adams on the mound. Adams will face off against Evan Chaffee, who started his career at Alabama before transferring to St. John’s. First pitch is slated for 3 p.m. CT on ESPN2, barring any weather delays.
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