Right-handed pitcher Tyler Fay delivered a gem in his final collegiate start at Sewell-Thomas Stadium Saturday night to lead Alabama to an 8-0 win over St. John’s in the Tuscaloosa Super Regional.
The redshirt junior fired 7.1 shutout innings, allowing just two hits, walking three and striking out nine on 113 pitches. Fay set the tone early by striking out the Red Storm in order in the top half of the first inning, topping out at 96.7 mph on his heater, the hardest he has thrown since his no-hitter back in March. Fay credited the crowd at The Joe for giving him a little extra adrenaline in the first inning.
“I mean, probably all of it, honestly,” Fay said of the crowd’s impact in the first inning. “Obviously, it’s a big game, big moment. But when I can’t hear my pitchcom, it gets you really going. So yeah, I think the crowd plays a huge part in that.”
Fay surrendered a leadoff double in the top of the second inning, but induced a pair of groundouts and a popout to keep the Red Storm out of the score column. The Crimson Tide jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the inning, and Fay responded in the top of the third with a 1-2-3 shutdown inning.
In the top of the fourth, Fay showed no signs of slowing down as he struck out two more hitters to bring his punchout total up to six through four innings. In the top half of the fifth inning, Fay navigated around a leadoff free pass, picking up a trio of groundouts to work another scoreless frame.
The Red Storm went three up, three down against Fay in the sixth inning and he notched his seventh punchout of the night in the process. In the top of the seventh inning, Fay ran into trouble for the first time of the night as he walked a batter, hit a batter and allowed a single to load the bases with nobody out.
However, Fay didn’t flinch, and pitching coach Jason Jackson came out for a mound visit to talk to Fay. Whatever Jackson told Fay got him right back on track, as he picked up a flyout, strikeout and a popout to work into and out of trouble, keeping the Red Storm off the scoreboard.
“Honestly, I don’t really remember what was said, but yeah, you keep executing pitches,” Fay said of the mound visit. “Gotta be a little bit finer in moments like that because mistakes could be two or three runs, whatever it is, but just trying to go right at people and trust my stuff and execute each pitch.”
Fay came back out for one final batter in the top of the eighth inning and recorded his ninth strikeout of the ballgame to end his night. Left-hander Ashton Crowther took over and as Fay left the mound, a record-setting crowd of 7,573 was chanting “Tyler Fay, Tyler Fay,” over and over, giving him a well-deserved standing ovation as he left the mound at The Joe one final time.
“That was really special,” he said. “Obviously, I mean, I’ve been here for four years, redshirted my freshman year. And as a 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 has had a career year, from a walk-on to redshirting his freshman year, to being the ace of an SEC staff. In 17 starts, Fay finished with an 11-4 record, posting a 4.37 ERA across 103 innings pitched, with 121 strikeouts, only 11 shy of setting the single-season program strikeout record, a 1.06 WHIP and a .223 opponents’ batting average.
“You talk about a guy that came here as a freshman, red-shirted, and it’s just continued to get better. I think it’s a testament to his hard work,” head coach Rob Vaughn said. “I think it’s a testament. To his family, not quitting when things don’t go right for you and just continue to show up. I think it’s a testament to our pitching staff of coaches.”
Now the question is, what round will Fay be selected in the MLB draft coming up in July? MLB scouts have him projected anywhere from the third to the seventh round. Fay’s pitch repertoire consists of three different variations of a fastball with a cutter, a four-seamer and a sinker. He also has a wipeout slider and a changeup to keep hitters off balance.
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