Behind a gritty team effort, Alabama knocked off Oklahoma State 9-7 in 11 innings Sunday night, securing the Tuscaloosa Regional crown and advancing to the NCAA Super Regionals.
“I don’t get emotional very often, and when I saw my kids, I was kind of a hot mess,” head coach Rob Vaughn said. “But man, it’s just, it is about these players, and it’s about the legacy they’re leaving here.”
Crimson Tide center fielder Bryce Fowler, shortstop Justin Lebron and catcher Brady Neal went three up, three down in the top of the first inning.
Crimson Tide starting pitcher freshman Myles Upchurch hit the first batter he faced. That runner moved up to second base on a sacrifice bunt, but Upchurch picked up a flyout and a strikeout to strand the runner.
In the top half of the second inning, the Crimson Tide kicked off the scoring with a two-out RBI base knock from second base Brennan Holt to give them a 1-0 advantage. They tacked on three more runs in the top of the third inning, thanks to Neal getting hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to bring across a run. The designated hitter, John Lemm, plated two more runs with a base hit to right field to make it 4-0.
The Cowboys got three runs back in the bottom of the third via a two-run home run from No. 9 hitter Deacon Pomeroy and a wild pitch that brought another run across to make it a 4-3 game.
Third baseman Jason Torres led off the top of the fifth inning with a solo shot to extend the Crimson Tide’s lead to 5-3.
Upchurch worked a 1-2-3 shutdown bottom of the fifth inning with some help from a diving play in left field from Tuscaloosa native Eric Hines.
Left-hander Ashton Crowther replaced Upchurch on the mound in the bottom half of the seventh inning and quickly picked up the first two outs, then trouble struck. Crowther served up back-to-back home runs to Brock Thompson and Kollin Ritchie to give the Cowboys a 6-5 lead.
Upchurch, in the biggest start of his career, threw six innings, allowing five hits, four runs, walking two and striking out nine on a career high 110 pitches.
“The most impressive thing about him is the poise, the maturity and the heartbeat in big spots,” Vaughn said of Upchurch. “I don’t think anybody on this team had any concern about the game being too fast for him today or him trying to do extra today. I think we all knew, all right, this is our dude.”
In the top of the eighth inning, Hines and the Crimson Tide responded as he crushed a 400-foot moon shot off the scoreboard in left field to tie the ballgame up.
Crowther came back out for the bottom of the eighth inning and picked up the first two outs. Then he gave up a couple of singles and hit a batter to load the bases, but induced a groundout to work into and out of trouble to keep the game tied. Neal had an injury scare in the inning as he dislocated his thumb, but went into the dugout and got it popped back into place and remained in the game.
Right fielder Peyton Steele, Fowler and Lebron went three up, three down in the top half of the ninth inning.
Crimson Tide closer Hagan Banks, who hasn’t pitched since May 10, came in relief for Crowther in the bottom of the ninth. Banks struck out the first two batters he faced, then gave up a couple of singles and intentionally walked a batter to load the bases. But Banks settled down and picked up a huge strikeout to send the ballgame to extra innings tied at 6-6.
In the top of the 10th inning, the Crimson Tide went down in order to give the Cowboys another chance to walk it off in the bottom of the frame. Banks remained in the ballgame and faced the minimum thanks to Neal gunning down a runner trying to steal second base.
Then came the top half of the 11th inning, Steele and Lebron each legged out infield singles to put runners on first and second with two outs for Neal. Neal delivered the biggest swing of his life, crushing a go-ahead three-run home run to send the Crimson Tide fans into a frenzy and give them a 9-6 lead.
“I mean, just swing hard in case you hit it,” Neal said. “Just cutter, slider down. I honestly don’t know what it was. I just saw it spin out of the hand and tried to home run.”
Banks came back out for the bottom half of the 11th and picked up the first two outs sandwiched in between a single, then he walked back-to-back hitters to load the bases with two outs and put the winning run at the plate. Garrett Shull lined an RBI single to right to make it a 9-7 game and put the tying run at second base. Banks bared down and picked up a strikeout to end the ballgame and punch the Crimson Tide’s ticket to a super regional.
The Crimson Tide will host St. John’s in the Tuscaloosa Super Regional in a best-of-three series, and two wins away from going to the College World Series for the first time since 1999.
This will be the first time the Crimson Tide has hosted a Super Regional since 2006. The Super Regional will begin Friday or Saturday; start times haven’t been announced yet.
“The crowd was awesome tonight, like awesome,” Vaughn said. “They were into it, it was electric and it got better and better as the game went on. So now we need that on steroids next week. I don’t know who the heck’s coming in. I need that energy. Let’s make it 8,000 people this time and see what happens, let’s get weird.”
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