No. 13 Alabama baseball dropped its third straight series to Tennessee in Knoxville over the weekend.
Game 1: Alabama 12, Tennessee 8
The Crimson Tide took down the Vols 12-8 in a high-scoring affair Thursday night.
The Crimson Tide kicked off the scoring in the top of the first inning as shortstop Justin Lebron and right fielder Brady Neal each worked walks. Then center fielder Bryce Fowler just missed a three-run home run, but trotted into second with an RBI double, making it a 1-0 game.
The Vols instantly responded. Center fielder Garrett Wright led off the bottom half of the inning with a solo shot to knot the ballgame up at 1-1. A couple of batters later, the Vols took a 2-1 lead thanks to an RBI single up the middle from designated hitter Blake Grimmer.
In the top of the second inning, Crimson Tide left fielder Justin Osterhouse hurt himself stretching in the on-deck circle, and Peyton Steele replaced him. Lebron and second baseman Brennan Holt each singled with two outs. Lebron then swiped third, making him 34-for-34 in stolen base attempts this year. Lebron came around to score thanks to a balk from Vols pitcher Landon Mack to tie the game.
“I didn’t know if he slipped. I didn’t know what happened,” head coach Rob Vaughn said of Osterhouse. “I thought maybe he was cramping, but that he was just stretching like he always does, and just something in his lower half, I don’t know if it’s hamstring, hip.”
Wright gave the Vols the lead right back in the bottom of the inning, crushing a solo shot, his second home run of the game, to give the Vols.
Designated hitter Eric Hines led off the third inning with a single to left, and catcher John Lemm followed with a walk. Luke Vaughn was plunked right in the helmet to load the bases with one out, but was forced to leave the game.
“When you take 95 to the head, you want to be extremely, extremely cautious with that,” Rob Vaughn said of Luke Vaughn. “So he came out, he was in good spirits, feels okay, but again, head stuff isn’t stuff to mess around with.”
Steele just missed a grand slam to dead center, but jogged into second with a bases-clearing double to give the Crimson Tide a 5-3 lead.
Fowler lined his second RBI double of the ballgame to right center in the top of the fourth, extending the Crimson Tide’s lead to 6-3.
In the bottom of the frame, it looked like Crimson Tide starter Tyler Fay induced an inning-ending double play, but Lebron bobbled it for his 16th error of the season, allowing a run to score, making it 6-4.
The Crimson Tide extended its lead to 9-4 in the sixth inning via a three-run homer from Hines, his fourth of the season.
Sam Mitchell replaced Fay in the bottom of the sixth and served up a two-run homer to third baseman Henry Ford, making it 9-6. Fay tossed five innings, allowing four runs, surrendering six hits, walking two, and striking out six on 108 pitches.
The Crimson Tide tacked on three more runs in the seventh inning. Neal was plunked with the bases loaded to bring across a run, Fowler worked a 14-pitch bases-loaded walk and Hines was plunked, making it a 12-6 ballgame.
Mitchell picked up the first two outs of the bottom of the seventh, then surrendered three straight hits, including a two-run single to Vols shortstop Manny Marin to make it 12-8. Left-hander Matthew Heiberger took over for Mitchell and picked up the third out on just one pitch.
Heiberger came back out for the bottom of the eighth and navigated around a two-out base knock and put together a scoreless frame. Crimson Tide closer Hagan Banks got the call for the bottom of the ninth and picked up the final three outs to put the finishing touches on the victory.
Game 2: Tennessee 10, Alabama 0
The Vols dominated the Crimson Tide 10-0 in Game 1 of a doubleheader on Friday. This marks the first time the Crimson Tide was shut out this season.
The Vols struck first in the bottom of the second as designated hitter Trent Grindlinger sent a solo shot to right center to give his team a 1-0 lead.
In the bottom of the third, the Vols tacked on three more runs on an RBI double from Ford, an RBI groundout from right fielder Reese Chapman and an RBI single from Grindlinger, making it 4-0.
Crimson Tide starting pitcher Zane Adams surrendered a leadoff single in the sixth inning, then walked a batter with one out to end his day. Austin Morris replaced him and walked the first batter he faced. Two runs would then come across to score on a throwing error from Holt trying to turn a double play, making it 6-0.
Adams fired 5.1 hits, allowing seven hits, six runs, with five being earned runs, walked four, and punched out four on 105 pitches.
Morris induced a would-be inning-ending double play in the seventh, but the Crimson Tide first baseman had a wild throw to second that resulted in zero outs and a run scoring. Vols first baseman Levi Clark made it 8-0 with an RBI fielder’s choice. Left-hander Evan Steckmesser came in relief for Morris and picked up the final out of the frame.
Steckmesser remained in the game for the bottom of the eighth and allowed Chapman to drive in another run on an RBI double. A couple of batters later, Marin delivered the knock-out punch with an RBI groundout to make it 10-0 and put the run rule into effect.
Game 3: Tennessee 11, Alabama 4
The Vols took down the Crimson Tide 11-4 again in the second half of the doubleheader on Friday, giving the Crimson Tide its third straight series loss.
The Vols put together a two-out rally in the bottom of the second inning to strike first. Three straight singles, including an RBI single from Blaine Brown, gave the Vols a 1-0 lead.
Steele and the Crimson Tide responded in the top of the third, as he crushed a solo shot to left center, his second homer of the year, to knot the ballgame up at 1-1.
The Crimson Tide put together a two-out rally of its own in the top of the fourth. Fowler just missed a solo home run but trotted into second with his fourth double of the series. Hines was then intentionally walked. Captain and designated hitter Will Plattner lined an RBI double in the left-center gap to give his team a 2-1 lead.
In the bottom half of the inning, Grindlinger responded for Tennessee with a solo home run to even the score at 2-2.
Crimson Tide third baseman Jason Torres gave his team a 3-2 lead via a solo shot to left field, his fifth home run of the season.
Then, in the bottom of the sixth inning, the defensive woes for the Crimson Tide struck yet again. It looked like they had the first out of the inning, but a wild throw from Torres allowed the tying run to move into scoring position. The Vols laid down a bunt back to Crimson Tide starter Myles Upchurch, who tried throwing to third, but a wild throw allowed the tying run to score.
Left-hander Ashton Crowther replaced Upchurch and served up a go-ahead two-run homer to Brown, then Ford picked up an RBI single, giving the Vols a 6-3 lead.
Heiberger took over for Crowther, and things just got worse for the Crimson Tide. A two-run double from Grindlinger and an RBI groundout by catcher Stone Lawless extended the Vols’ lead to 9-3.
Heiberger came back out for the bottom of the seventh and gave up a solo homer to Brown, making it 10-3. Owen Sarna came in relief for Heiberger and picked up the final couple of outs of the frame.
In the top of the eighth, Neal lined an RBI single to right center, cutting the Vols’ lead to 10-4. The Vols got that run right back in the bottom of the inning.
The Crimson Tide went down in order in the top of the ninth to drop Game 2 of the doubleheader and its third consecutive series.
With three more errors in the final game of the series, the Crimson Tide is now up to 67 errors on the season, which leads the SEC.
“I know it’s easy to look and say, ‘Hey, we kick the ball around. We don’t work on it.’ But we work on it a whole, whole lot,” Vaughn said. “We’ve got to get a lot better at it, so we’re going to put a heavy emphasis on that as well this week.”
The Crimson Tide will get some much-needed time off to get healthy with no mid-week game this weekend. They will be back at Seawell Thomas Stadium on Thursday to start a series against Vanderbilt.
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